KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 Xinhua) -- Malaysia is expected to secure about 200 billion ringgit (51.21 billion U.S. dollars) approved investments this year, said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) here on Tuesday.

MIDA chief executive officer Azman Mahmud told reporters at its annual media conference that Malaysia has so far attracted 69.6 billion ringgit of investments for manufacturing and services sectors this year.

Singapore, the United States, China, Indonesia, China's Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Switzerland are among the main sources of foreign investments, he said.

In 2017, Malaysia's approved investments totaled 197.1 billion ringgit in manufacturing, services and primary sectors, 7.4 percent lower when compared with 2016.

"These are from 5,466 projects that will generate additional 139,520 job opportunities for the country," said MIDA.

Foreign investments contributed 54.7 billion ringgit to the overall investments, making up 27.8 percent of the total.

The decline in overall investments was due to the lower approved investments in the services sector, which fell 17.2 percent year-on-year to 121.1 billion ringgit.

Last year, the manufacturing sector recorded total approved investments of 63.7 billion ringgit, an increase of 8.9 percent when compared with 2016.

The sector's biggest foreign investor was China, Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands and Germany, accounting for 12.1 billion ringgit or 56 percent of foreign investments approved last year.

China, which contributed 4.8 billion ringgit in investments, was the top foreign direct investment source for two years in a row for Malaysia's manufacturing sector.

It has diversified into many industries including the non-metallic mineral products, transport equipment, rubber products, electrical and electronics products.

Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said earlier that the stronger economic growth in major economies will continue to support Malaysia's investment outlook.

The gradual recovery in commodity prices and improved profits, prospects in various sectors could also boost business confidence and multinational companies' appetite to invest, he added.