KUALA LUMPUR: Industry players in Malaysia spent RM2.89bil for environmental protection expenditure in 2019, up by 7% from the amount spent in 2018.

       This is largely driven by an 18% growth in capital expenditure, according to the Statistics Department in its Environmental Protection Survey Report 2020.Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said operating expenditure posted a moderate growth of 3% in 2019.

       “The survey shows that operating expenditure constitutes the largest share at 70.3%, while 29.7% was spent on capital expenditure, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

       The environmental protection expenditure has increased by 28.6% since 2014.

       Uzir said pollution management dominated the environmental protection expenditure at RM2.02bil, or 70.1%, and this was followed by waste management at RM751.7mil (26.1%) and environmental assessment and charges of RM64.9mil (2.3%). — Bernama