Johor poised to become new economic powerhouse

Johor has the potential to become an economic powerhouse in Malaysia as well as the ASEAN region, as the state receives among the highest amount of investments in Malaysia.

The state's healthy business climate and the availability of quality workforce required by industry players would attract more foreign investments in the future, including from the United States (US), said US Ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir.

"There are certain factors that US investors would look for including business climate, regulations, taxes and government-to-government services that are efficient, supportive and most importantly, assist in helping them to figure out how to make an investment.

"All of these things must be consistent. If there are any changes, they would like to have consultation between the government and their companies," she told Bernama in an exclusive interview here, recently.

Lakhdhir also stressed that Johor had a pool of skilled and competitive workforce who were able to communicate in English.

Based on statistics by the State Tourism, Domestic Trade and Consumerism Committee, Johor recorded RM33.7 billion in foreign investments from 2013 to 2016, out of which RM4.96 billion were from US companies.

These included investments in scientific and measuring equipment, electronics and electrical products, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, food manufacturing sector, chemical and rubber products and fabricated metal products.

-- BERNAMA