Thursday, 20 October 2016

Penang, No Longer A Preferred Investment Destination

Recording the fastest GDP per capita growth in 2015 didn’t mean recording the fastest growth in median salary or median household income in Penang.

Another metric of economic performance by state in Malaysia is capital investments commited by domestic and foreign investors.

Capital investments create jobs, open business opportunities and boost people income especially the workers.Below are the capital investments by domestic and foreign investors by state from 2008 to 2015:

Penang the home of manufacturing in Malaysia has been overtaken by Johor and Sarawak (under BN) as the preferred investment destination in Malaysia.

Johor capital investments for manufacturing projects almost double the capital investments in Penang for the period of 2008 to 2015.

No wonder Penang is lagging behind Johor and Sarawak in term of median salary growth because capital investments for manufacturing sector in Penang have lagged the two states ever since DAP took over the state.

Lower investments mean fewer jobs created and less income for the workers in Penang.

LGE needs to stop gloating about having the fastest GDP per capita growth and start looking into why Penang has dropped in term of preferred investment destination among the investors.

I will say this again and again, GDP per capita means nothing if the people, the workers don’t get any benefit from it.