Outward foreign direct investment : the Malaysian experience

This paper analyses the trends, patterns and determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by Malaysian companies. It shows that Malaysian OFDI had taken a quantum leap since 1993 and the number of Malaysian TNCs investing abroad since the 1990s has increased significantly. The OFDI is focused mainly in services (finance, banking, insurance and tourism) and natural resources (oil and gas) with manufacturing a distant third. This also includes the emergence of offshore financial centres and developed countries as the most important host region for trans-border activity although investments in developing countries especially within ASEAN have shown tremendous growth. The key drivers of OFDI have been to increase efficiency, to access resources and to access markets