Malaysia ranked 22 in World Competitiveness

Putrajaya (May 28, 2019) Minister of International Trade and Industry, Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking pointed out that the 2019 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland shows that in 63 countries, Malaysia is ranked 22nd among the most competitive countries in the world.

Only behind Singapore in ASEAN

“Malaysia continues to lead Belgium (27^th), South Korea (28^th) and Japan (30^th), behind New Zealand and ranks 7th among 14 Asia-Pacific economies. The ASEAN side ranked second in Singapore, surpassing other countries in the region.”

At the same time, Malaysia ranks second among 28 economies with a per capita GDP of less than $20,000.

Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking issued a statement saying that Malaysia’s performance has gone down since 2016, but last year it remained at 22nd place, showing the positive response of the business community to the new government.

“The report shows that (Malaysia) has improved in rankings and scores related to the system compared to last year, such as bribery and corruption, transparency, bureaucracy, justice, social cohesion and public finances.”

He pointed out that the scores of all the above indexes have improved by more than 10%, from 10.8% of public finance to 31.3% of bribery and corruption.

Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking said that economic performance must take into account the macroeconomic assessment of the domestic economy. Malaysia ranked 11th in this project and Malaysia ranked first in terms of price. In other respects, the rankings are regressing, such as 14th in international trade (9th in last year), 16th in employment (11th in last year), 22nd in international investment (16th in last year), and 31st in domestic economy (16th in last year).

“Our strength is in the current account balance (6^th  place), long-term unemployed (6^th  place), gasoline price (7^th  place) and unemployment rate (9^th  place).

Malaysia’s economic performance ranked 11th, Government efficiency fell to 24^th

As for the government efficiency in calculating whether government policies contribute to competitiveness, Malaysia’s ranking fell from 23rd last year to 24th. But it is still comparable to the United States (23^rd) and surpasses China (35^th).

Entrepreneurial rankings are falling behind

Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking said that Malaysia’s strength is stable in exchange rate (No. 3), consumption tax rate (No. 7) and government policy resilience (No. 9). On the contrary, Malaysia needs to make progress in its entrepreneurial process because it ranks 56th out of 63 countries.

In terms of business efficiency, that is, whether the company is innovative, profitable and responsible, Malaysia has slightly dropped from the 17th place last year to the 18th place, and ranked 23rd in financial projects. There are also annual working hours, skilled labor and big data in the 4th, 5th and 9th places respectively.

He said: "Even if a woman with a bachelor's degree progresses to the fourth place in Malaysia, Malaysia ranks 52nd in the women's labor market. Now, the Ministry of Trade and Industry will deal with this problem."

Infrastructure rankings are rising

He pointed out that Malaysia has improved in infrastructure and rose to 28th. This is also the best ranking in Malaysia in the past four years. Other related indicators include 15th in science and technology facilities (24th in last year), 14th in infrastructure (18th in last year), 4th in science and high-tech exports, and 6th in investment telecommunications. However, Malaysia ranks 56th, 55th and 54th respectively in terms of total medical expenses, energy intensity and medical assistance.

Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking said that the challenging external environment of 2018 affected the competitiveness of small economies, and Malaysia is no exception. This includes the US federal government's lockout, the instability of monetary policy, the slowdown of China's economic growth, and the impact of China-US trade wars on the global and national economies.

“However, Malaysia’s economic performance ranked 11th, comparable to the second most competitive economy, Hong Kong (10th) and surpassed Canada (12th), Switzerland (23rd) and Finland (No. 35)."

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