Malaysia’s economy remains on a firm footing with the country’s economy projected to grow by 4 to 4.5 percent in 2016, Prime Minister Najib Razak assured German business leaders.

The economy expanded by four percent in the second quarter of this year, following a 4.2 percent growth in the first quarter of the year.

He said since 2009, Gross National Income had increased by nearly 50 percent and 1.8 million jobs had been created.

"Because our fundamentals are strong, Malaysia continues to attract considerable foreign direct investments, and in fact, this year is looking particularly good for us," he told a dialogue session in Berlin today.

Among the companies that participated in the dialogue were Atotech, AWS Schafer, BMW, Daimler, Osram, Volkswagen, Infineon, Bombardier Transportation, Ensinger, B Braun, Green Sugar and Biesterfeld International.

Najib, who is also finance minister, is on a three-day official visit to Germany on the invitation of its Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Najib said last year, Malaysia approved a total of US$8.4 billion in foreign direct investments (FDIs).

"I am pleased to be able to say that in the first half of this year, approved FDIs reached 83.3 percent of the total foreign investments approved for the whole of last year. We expect the figures to increase even more towards the end of 2016," he added.

- Bernama