Investor confidence plunged when 1MDB scandal broke, says Amanah man
An Amanah leader says investor confidence in Malaysia went downhill after the 1MDB scandal erupted in 2015.
(FMT) – Central committee member Faiz Fadzil said the insinuation by Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki that the rot in investments began after the change of government in 2018 was “baseless and confusing”.
Recently, Asyraf, in demanding senior minister for economy Mohamed Azmin Ali to explain the 68% decline in Malaysia’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, said foreign investor confidence had yet to recover after the last general election.
However, in a statement today, Faiz said “the fact is that investor confidence in Malaysia began deteriorating since the 1MDB scandal erupted in 2015″.
He said foreign investors began fleeing the market then, resulting in RM19.5 billion outflow of foreign funds.
“This is the second worst record in the country during the Barisan Nasional era. The worst record belongs to the Perikatan Nasional government in 2020 under which there was a RM25 billion outflow of foreign funds,” he said.
Faiz said the value of FDI dipped by almost 14% (RM7 billion) in 2017. He said that when Pakatan Harapan took over in 2018, it had tried to restore investor confidence, resulting in approved FDI increasing to RM82.4 billion in 2019, the highest in the country’s history.
“If the PH government did not fall because of treachery, the country’s investment performance would certainly be better,” he said.