KUALA LUMPUR, 10 DECEMBER 2024: Malaysia has successfully recorded a total approved investment of RM254.7 bil across various economic sectors during the first nine months of this year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this represents a 10.7% increase compared to RM230.2bil recorded in the same period in 2023.

He added that the investment figure involves 4,753 projects, expected to create a total of 159,347 new job opportunities.

"This was reported during my chairing of the 8th National Investment Council Meeting for 2024, which reviewed investment performance," he shared in a post on X Tuesday (Dec 10).

The Prime Minister further announced that the National Investment Council Meeting has approved and endorsed the Guidelines for Sustainable Data Centre Development, which include metrics for Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE).

According to him, these guidelines will serve as qualifying criteria for tax incentives under the Digital Ecosystem Acceleration Scheme (Desac), an improved policy initiative aimed at driving data centre investments.

"The Madani government continues to enhance existing policies and introduce new ones as measures to boost the nation's competitiveness," said Anwar.