 Johor Bahru is one of the fastest @-@ growing cities in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur . It is the main commercial centre for Johor and is located in the Indonesia – Malaysia – Singapore Growth Triangle . Tertiary @-@ based industry dominates the economy with thousands of Singaporeans and Indonesians and other international tourists visiting the city . It is the centre of financial services , commerce and retail , arts and culture , hospitality , urban tourism , plastic manufacturing , electrical and electronics and food processing . The city has a very close economic relationship with Singapore as many Singaporeans frequently visit for shopping , entertainment , and dining which increase the city income with the stronger Singapore dollar ; some Singaporeans have also chosen to live in the city . Due to this , Johor Bahru 's retail scene was continuously developed to meet the needs of its consumers . The main shopping districts are located within the city , with a number of large shopping malls located in the suburbs . A large numbers of the city 's residents work in Singapore , where the salaries are higher than in Malaysia . The presence of Singaporean and Chinese @-@ owned companies were also significant , with China being the fifth largest investor in Iskandar Malaysia after Singapore , the United States , Spain and Japan as of September 2014 . In 2014 , the sudden change of weekend rest days to Friday and Saturday from Saturday and Sunday by the Sultan of Johor had a relatively small impact to the city economy , with business especially affected . However , it boosted the tourism industry as the holidays would be able to start earlier on Sunday , attracting more tourists from Singapore . Johor Bahru is the location of numerous conferences , congress and trade fairs , such as the Eastern Regional Organisation for Planning and Housing and the World Islamic Economic Forum . The city is the first in Malaysia to practise a low @-@ carbon economy . 
