Malaysia's new approved direct investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors rose 17.7 percent year-on-year to 80.2 billion ringgit (about 19.18 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2018, according to data released Monday.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) said in a statement that the approved investments come from 2,346 projects, and are expected to generate 60,181 job opportunities for Malaysia.

The domestic investments which contribute 67 percent to the total approved investments, expanded 10.5 percent year-on-year to 53.7 billion ringgit.

Meanwhile, foreign investments grew 35.3 percent year-on-year to 26.5 billion ringgit, mainly driven by investments in the manufacturing and primary sectors.

The services sector remains as the key driver, with its approved investments standing at 50.9 billion ringgit.

The approved investments for the manufacturing industry increased 21.2 percent year-on-year to 20.2 billion ringgit. The primary sector contributed 9.1 billion ringgit or 11.3 percent to the total approved projects.

The foreign investments in approved manufacturing projects surged 63.1 percent year-on-year to 15.2 billion ringgit, mainly supported by Chinese investment.

China accounted for 6.5 billion ringgit, or 43 percent of the total foreign investments, in the manufacturing sector, followed by South Korea (16 percent), Japan (10 percent), Singapore (5 percent) and France (4 percent).

According to MIDA, the notable investments include a new manufacturing project from China for the basic metals industry that involves utilizing "blast furnace" technology that not only produces quality end-products at a cheaper cost but can also contribute to a greener steel-making process.

This project, which offers 98 percent of its total job opportunities to Malaysians, is expected to reduce imports of intermediate goods and will strengthen the metal and steel industry, it said.