COMMENT | Foreign direct investment (FDI), the net inflow of long-term investments, is a rather fickle condition as the chart for quarterly FDI net inflows for Malaysia shows below.

It is further complicated by two other considerations. Approved investments are more like fairy tales and castles in the air - pie in the sky, approved but not necessarily committed or already invested. But they offer some indication of the future even if highly imperfect.

And then there are actual, real investments. This is the moment of truth, when fluff disappears into thin air and myths are busted. As the cloud lifts, the cold hard facts emerge into view on the ground measured by net investment inflows into lasting ventures.

When Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says there were RM330 billion in total approved investments for last year, it does not mean that...