KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 – Enhancing Malaysia’s competitiveness requires concerted efforts and commitment from both the public and private sectors, says International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said the existing strong public-private sector collaboration would be intensified to ensure the momentum to achieve a developed nation status remained high. The minister also said the government would ensure the successful implementation of the National Transformation Policy which encompassed the economic and government transformation programmes.
“This commitment does not only serve to facilitate the ease-of-doing business but also encourage the private sector to step up efforts to invest in technology and pursue innovation continuously,” he said in a statement.
Malaysia continues its upward trend making it among the top 20 most competitive economies. The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015 of the World Economic Forum ranked Malaysia 20th out of 144 economies compared with its 24th position out of 148 countries recorded previously.
With an enhanced competitiveness performance, Malaysia (20th) was ahead of developed economies such as Austria (21st), Australia (22nd), France (23rd), Ireland (25th) and South Korea (26th). Among Asia-Pacific countries, Malaysia improved to sixth position out of 28 countries from seventh in 2013 after Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and New Zealand.
The GCR is an annual report published by the World Economic Forum based on the Global Competitiveness Index that integrates both macro and micro economic aspects of competitiveness. It uses 70 per cent perception data obtained through the Executive Opinion Survey from high level private sector executives and 30 per cent statistical data.
Elsewhere, Malaysia ranked an outstanding fourth in the Financial Market Development pillar, reflecting its efforts to position itself as the leading center of global Islamic finance.
Despite the positive trend in Malaysia’s competitive performance, Mustapa said the ministry and its agency, Malaysia Productivity Corporation, would continue their leading roles in coordinating efforts to enhance Malaysia’s competitiveness.
“This would include the indicators in the Global Competitiveness Report and other similar reports as baseline information for competitiveness strategy formulation,” he said.
– BERNAMA
