KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 ― Malaysia registered a 21-per cent drop in approved investments in 2015 compared to the previous year as a result of the global commodities crash and the ringgit's decline versus the US dollar.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said, however, that the RM186.7 billion in total approved investments was still above the targeted annual average of RM148 billion.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) also declined over the same period, going from RM64 billion in 2014 to RM36 billion last year.

At that amount, FDI accounted for just 19.4 per cent of all investments approved, when it had been 27 per cent in 2014.

“This bears testament to the resilience of Malaysia’s economy on the back of solid structural economic fundamentals,” MIDA said of the latest numbers, claiming that Malaysia remains an “attractive proposition” for investors.

It also said the higher portion of domestic investments reflected local investors’ “favourable response” to government’s call for private investors to lead the way in the growth of economy.

Lack of new oil and gas exploration projects also saw investments in the primary sector plummet 96.2 per cent to RM 3.8 billion in 2015 compared to RM 14.4 billion in 2014.