AERI Completes Full ASEAN Coverage in Its Investment Guide Series with the Addition of Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam

Asia Economic Research Institute (AERI)

The Asia Economic Research Institute (AERI) has published two new investment cooperation guides — a national-level guide to Malaysia and the Institute's first guide to Brunei Darussalam — completing coverage of all ten ASEAN member states in its investment guide series.

Both guides are published simultaneously in English, Chinese and Malay, consistent with the Institute's trilingual content system, and each is accompanied by a downloadable PDF edition.

Why Two New Guides

AERI's Southeast Asia coverage previously included national guides for Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, together with city and state-level guides for Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru and Miri in Sarawak. Two gaps remained, and both were material:

Malaysia at the national level. The Institute had published four Malaysian city and state guides but no country-level framework. Investors need the national picture — the approval regime, the incentive architecture, the sectoral data and the compliance environment — before selecting a location. The new guide supplies that layer and cross-links to the city guides.
Brunei Darussalam. Brunei was the only ASEAN member state without an AERI guide. Its absence was conspicuous given that it is one of the region's wealthiest economies per capita, applies an 18.5% corporate income tax rate with no personal income tax, permits full foreign ownership, and is pursuing a five-sector diversification agenda under Wawasan Brunei 2035.

What the Malaysia Guide Covers

The national guide draws on data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). Key reference points include:

GDP growth of 5.2% in 2025, with GDP at current prices of RM2.03 trillion and gross national income per capita of RM57,200 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 15 May 2026).
RM92.8 billion in approved investments across 1,249 projects in Q1 2026, expected to create 50,226 jobs — a 46.7% year-on-year increase — with foreign investment accounting for 60.5% of the total (MIDA, 8 June 2026).
The information and communications sub-sector at RM38.9 billion, of which data centres and cloud computing alone accounted for RM34.6 billion across 33 projects.
The top five foreign sources — Japan (RM21.5 billion), China (RM10.1 billion), the United States (RM10.1 billion), Singapore (RM6.7 billion) and Thailand (RM2.5 billion) — and the top five states, led by Selangor at RM33.5 billion.
A flag on the New Incentive Framework for the Manufacturing Sector, introduced on 1 March 2026, which materially changes how new manufacturing projects should be modelled.

What the Brunei Guide Covers

The Brunei guide is built on the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), the Asian Development Bank, and Brunei's own Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) and Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB). It presents published 2026 growth forecasts as a range — ADB 1.8%, AMRO 2.3%, CSPS 1.3% — rather than selecting a single figure, and is explicit about the constraints: a domestic market of under half a million people, a manufacturing workforce of around 12,800, and power reliability and adequacy as the binding competitiveness constraint identified by CSPS itself.

Editorial Standard

AERI's guides are compiled exclusively from authoritative official and institutional sources, with every statistic carrying its source and reference date. Where official agencies publish provisional or revised figures, the guides use the most recent official release. Where institutions disagree, as with Brunei's 2026 growth outlook, the guides present the range with attribution rather than a single estimate.

Each guide closes with an explicit disclaimer: the content is for reference only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, and readers should verify all figures and requirements against the latest official publications before making investment decisions.

Access

Malaysia (national): https://www.aeri.asia/investment-malaysia.html
Brunei Darussalam: https://www.aeri.asia/investment-brunei.html
Full series index: https://www.aeri.asia/investment.html

Compiled by the Asia Economic Research Institute (AERI). Sources: Department of Statistics Malaysia; Malaysian Investment Development Authority; AMRO; Asian Development Bank (Asian Development Outlook, July 2026); Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies, Brunei Darussalam; Brunei Economic Development Board; World Bank.

The Asia Economic Research Institute (AERI) is a think tank dedicated to regional economic research and cooperation in Asia. Since its establishment, the Institute has made promoting sustainable Asian economic development and facilitating regional economic integration its core mission, providing intellectual support and decision-making references for governments, enterprises, and international organizations through high-quality economic research, policy analysis, and academic exchange activities.

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