InVinoVeritas

Some interesting statistics concerning the MM2H programme have been announced today.

Firstly, since 2002, over 1 million foreigners have applied for MM2H but only 33,300 have been approved (of which 2,412 are from the UK).

Fixed deposits held under the scheme amount to RM4.9 billion.

RM148 million has been spent by MM2H'ers on cars and properties. (This figure seems extremely low and suggests that very few MM2H'ers buy their own property in Malaysia).

Overall MM2H'ers have contributed RM12.8 billion to the Malaysian economy since its the scheme's inception.

Nazri: A million applied but only 33,000 here under MM2H | Free Malaysia Today

Davita

A very interesting find IVV.
Are there any conclusion to be made...I'm confused whether the minister was saying this was a positive attribution to the Malaysian welfare or wasn't.
At the end of the day... the MM2H program has to be in the best interest of the Malaysians and not the MM2H recipients...if it's a win/win then the world should pay attention.

Fenella

Very interesting article. It really is a win-win situation for Malaysia. A lot of Central American countries have recognised the benefits of allowing retirees to spend their money in their countries and I've never understood why more Asian countries don't follow suit or at least make it easier for us to stay long term, eliminating the whole visa run fiasco - Probably just too much effort to set the whole thing up?

SushiFan

The article does mention that MM2H participants on average spend RM10 k per month. The average monthly income in Malaysia is about RM4.5 k, so I think that most readers will understand the positive influence on MM2H'ers on the Malaysian economy.

The sentence in the article which confuses me a bit is "The programme collected RM4.9 billion from fixed deposits". Those fixed deposits do not belong to the Malaysian government, but to the MM2H holders. I had not expected Bangladeshi to be the #3 in the MM2H ranking.

InVinoVeritas

Even if the FD's do not "belong" to Malaysia it probably figures somewhere in their balance sheet as reserves held by overseas investors, or some such.

I was surpised that 97% of MM2H applications were not successful and would love to see some breakdown of that figure.

eCdD

Me too. I have never heard of an unsuccessful application.

columbine

Very surprised by the 3% figure. Thought it would be lots higher.