KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry said today that it is proposing to review existing laws to allow domestic companies already in existence to access investment incentives.

The ministry said that the proposal to review the Promotion of Investments Act 1986 was in line with the need to develop resilient and competitive domestic companies given the increasing importance of domestic investment to the economy.

It added that it would also review the definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from RM500,000 to RM2.5 million to allow more domestic companies to benefit from incentives for SMEs.

Customised assistance packages will also be introduced to promote consolidation among SMEs.

Domestic direct investment (DDI) exceeded foreign direct investment (FDI) last year and reached 55.4 per cent of total approved investments.

The share of DDI within the services sector where DDI accounted for 74.8 per cent of approved investments was greater than that of the manufacturing sector where DDI made up 39 per cent of approved investments.

MITI also said that it was proposing to extend the reinvestment allowance to selected services sub-sectors.

Approved DDI grew about 30 per cent last year from RM61.1 billion in 2010 to RM82.3 billion in 2011.