Malaysia eyes $9.9B in ICT investments by 2020

The Malaysia government expects to generate about 31.2 billion ringgit (US$9.9 billion) worth of public-private partnership investments from its Digital Malaysia initiative by 2020.

The Sun Daily reported on Thursday that the figures were revealed by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) CEO Badlisham Ghazali. He said eight ICT projects have already been approved this year and will be rolled out in phases, with more in the pipeline.

Launched last October, the Digital Malaysia initiative is a national project that hopes to increase the ICT sector's contribution to its gross national income (GNI) to 17 percent, or 294 billion ringgit (US$93.2 billion), by 2020.

Badlisham said the one of the eight ongoing projects include the Asian e-Fulfillment Hub, which aims to turn Malaysia into Asia's hub for cross-border e-commerce shipment. It is expected to attract 620 million ringgit worth of investments and create 1,622 jobs, and contribute 287 million (US$91 million) to the country's GNI in 8 years' time.

Another project highlighted by Badlisham was e-payment services for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and micro enterprises. This is expected to bring about 600 million ringgit (US$190 million) in investments, create 2,000 new job opportunities, and contribute 5 billion ringgit (US$1.6 billion) to the GNI, the Sun Daily reported.