GOVT TO ANNOUNCE DETAILS ON INVESTMENTS FOR NIMP 2030 IN BUDGET 2024 -- TENGKU ZAFRUL 

The government will announce part of the details on investment allocations for the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030) in the Budget 2024 announcement, which is slated on 13th October.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said almost 10% of the allocation was from the government's development expenditure. 

"The details, half of it will be announced in Budget 2024, and half of it is already there or allocated before this. We will explain the details in the near future," he told reporters after the launch of NIMP 2030.

Earlier in his speech, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government is fully committed to supporting the implementation of the NIMP 2030. 

He said NIMP 2030 will require an estimated total investment of RM95 billion through its seven years, predominantly from the private sector mobilised from private equity, capital and the financial markets. 

Close to 10% will be allocated by the government to help catalyse and incentivise these investments via the NIMP Industrial Development Fund and the NIMP Strategic Co-investment Fund, Anwar said. 

Tengku Zafrul said the formulation of NIMP 2030 involved various negotiation sessions and deliberations with at least 1,000 people, including various stakeholders such as the private sector. 

"It's very commercially driven, and as you know, the private sector will look at the viability of those investments, hence this mission-based approach is also looking at the returns to the private sector. We need to make sure that it is commercially viable and to make it inclusive as well," he added.

Asked whether Malaysia is looking for a more liberal approach to attracting new investments, Tengku Zafrul affirmed that Malaysia was committed to doing so as long as it gives a positive spillover effect to the economy and the people.

In terms of policy, he pointed out that the government was willing to look at policies that were progressive, that would result in a positive spillover effect to the local companies especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"When we make a policy, especially at Miti (Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry), what we want to see is that it ends up beneficial to the local companies, especially the SMEs in terms of the supply chain.

"Just like in the NIMP, we hope we can elevate the status of our SMEs so that they can be part of the supply chain as the Prime Minister has said just now, we are now looking at targeting households to go up higher than what we have today," said Tengku Zafrul.