In a written parliamentary reply, the senior minister for economy said these MNCs were foreign manufacturing firms from the textile, machinery and metal, construction, electric and electronics as well as chemical sectors.

He identified the nine as Esquel Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Penang), Esquel Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Kelantan), Pen Apparel Sdn Bhd, Bekaert Ipoh Sdn Bhd, HOWCO Metal Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Transnorm System Sdn Bhd, Terreal Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sika Kimia
Sdn Bhd and SONY EMCS (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

“Among the main factors for the ceasing of these companies’ operations are the global economic decline caused by the pandemic and the weak market following the decline in sales, caused by the drop in demand overseas.

“Other factors include the increase in operation costs, competition with similar producers in the local and foreign market, lack of demand for their products and the restructuring of the companies,” he said in reply to Steven Sim (PH-Bukit Mertajam).

But Azmin maintained that Malaysia remained one of the top investment destinations in the region, citing how RM107.5 billion in approved investments were recorded from January to June.

This, he said, was a 69.8% increase compared to the RM63.3 billion recorded during the same period last year.

Of the RM107.5 billion recorded, RM62.5 billion came from foreign direct investments (FDI), a 214.9% increase compared to the same period in 2020.

The bulk of this FDI came from Singapore with RM43.5 billion, followed by South Korea (RM6.3 billion), the Netherlands (RM5.1 billion), the British Virgin Islands (RM3 billion) and Japan (RM0.6 billion).