Approved investments vs FDI: Manipulation or non-issue?

Malaysia's Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul addressed the discrepancies between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) figures reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) and Foreign Investment (FI) data from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). He clarified that MIDA's approved FI figures represent proposed projects with foreign equity participation granted approvals, while DOSM's figures measure actual financial inflows and outflows. The minister emphasized these are distinct metrics, with MIDA focusing on potential investments and DOSM tracking realized transactions.