Brexit Will Have Minimum Impact On Malaysia

SHAH ALAM (Selangor, Malaysia) Aug 1 (Bernama) -- Britain's consensus to exit from the European Union will have a minimum impact on Selangor's trade and investment, the state legislative assembly was told Monday. Chairman for the Standing Committees for Investment, Industry & Commerce, Small and Medium Enterprises and, Transportation Teng Chang Kim said in principle, Brexit would not have any negative impact on the state's development. He said the country's trading partners, were among others, China, India and the Middle East, which imported various products from Malaysia. "As such, the negative impact on the Malaysian economy and that of Selangor would be minimal," he said in reply to Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan (BN-Batang Kali) who was concerned about the impact Brexit would have on Selangor's development and steps taken to counter global uncertainties like Brexit. Based on official statistics, Teng said Japan was the largest investor in Selangor's manufacturing industry from 1987 to March 2016 with investments totalling US$6.02 billion (RM24.23 billion), the United States (RM14.676 billion), Singapore (RM10.666 billion), Germany (RM5.695 billion), Taiwan (RM4.207 billion) and South Korea (RM3.735 billion). (US$1 = RM4.02) The United Kingdom was the seventh largest investor in Selangor with investments of RM2.356 billion. Teng, who is also the DAP assemblyman for Sungai Pinang, said the state government, in turn, would study if there would be any favourable impact from Brexit as the United Kingdom would now look to invest outside Europe. In another development, Chief Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said ongoing negotiations for the takeover of Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) would be completed in October. "Splash and the state government was scrutinising the commercial terms of the takeover before finalising the negotiations," said Mohamed Azmin in reply to Sulaiman Abdul Razak (BN-Permatang) who asked about the current status of the negotiations. -- BERNAMA