KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows surged to 14.5 billion ringgit (3.24 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, from 9.1 billion ringgit in the preceding quarter, official data showed Friday.
Most of the FDI flowed into the services sector, predominantly in information and communication and wholesale and retail trade sub-sectors, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement.
The main sources of the FDI were Singapore, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Switzerland.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's direct investment abroad (DIA) recorded a higher net outflow of 18.9 billion ringgit in the third quarter, compared to 5.3 billion ringgit in the previous quarter.
The outflows were mostly from the manufacturing, services and mining and quarrying sectors.
Notably, DIA outflows were primarily directed towards Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Canada in the reporting period. (1 ringgit equals 0.22 U.S. dollar) ■