Malaysia has set up a panel to fast-track investments as it seeks to woo businesses affected by the US-China trade dispute and it approved more than US$500 million in new proposals this month, a government deputy minister said.
"If approvals took three months earlier, now it would take a month - from when the documentation is completed to when the committee will approve it," Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Kian Ming told Reuters. Foreign direct investment to Malaysia nearly doubled to RM50 billion in the first half of this year, of which over half went to manufacturing. Ong said he was hopeful of an even bigger rise in the second half of the year.