The Madani Government’s main priority for 2024 is to accelerate the country’s economic growth by encouraging both domestic and foreign investors to invest in Malaysia, according to Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil.

He stated that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim emphasised the directive during the first Cabinet meeting of the year, which was held today.

Fahmi stated that during the meeting, the prime minister emphasised the need to streamline the functions performed by government-linked investment companies (GLICs), which would boost the country’s economic growth.

“Among the issues emphasised are easing the process and expediting approvals, particularly for investments.”

“The prime minister also stressed that the approval aspect (of investments) should be prioritised, not relaxed…but expedited,” he said at a press conference held at the Ministry of Communications in this city.

Meanwhile, Fahmi stated that discussions about which agencies should be placed under the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Digital are still ongoing, and that issues like Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) have not been resolved.

In addition, he stated that the current status of the 5G network implementation had not been obtained and that the matter would be announced soon.

“However, because the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is still under the Ministry of Communications, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Communications and the secretary-general of the Treasury will continue to serve as co-chairs of the 5G task force.”

“We expect to achieve 80 per cent 5G coverage in populated areas (CoPA) in the near term, enabling the implementation of dual-network 5G,” he said.