PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has ranked 27th in the world’s most competitive economies, according to the 2023 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR).
Denmark retains its position at the top of the ranking for the second straight year, Ireland rises sharply from seventh to second, and Switzerland drops one place to third.
Published by IMD’s World Competitiveness Centre (WCC), the 2023 WCR is the 35th edition of the annual ranking and report, covering 64 global economies. IMD partnered with the Malaysia Productivity Corporation to assess the country’s performance.
“Political fragmentation is a result of Covid-19 and the Ukraine war, and a major upshot is that more and more countries – Singapore, Saudi Arabia and India, for example – are pursuing their own interests. With inflation pressures easing and uncertain stock markets, we are now able to see winners and losers in a context where multiple crises overlap,” said Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the WCC.
Key findings on Malaysia:
Based on the data, Malaysia saw its ranking improved to 27th from 32nd in 2022. However,
the main challenges this year in terms of becoming a more competitive economy are:
● Talent development of an industry-ready workforce
● Digital-first mindset for sectors
● Regulatory reforms for ease of doing business at national and sub-national levels
● Pursuit of sustainable development
Malaysia’s strength areas where it performed well:
● Prices
● Basic infrastructure
● Tax policies
On the other hand, Malaysia did not perform well in the following sub-factor rankings:
● Business Legislation
● Education
● Societal framework
For this ranking, the WCC collaborated with 57 local Partner Institutes to assess 64 economies via a mixture of hard data – 164 competitiveness criteria selected as a result of comprehensive research using economic literature, international, national, and regional sources, and feedback from the business community, government agencies, and academics – as well as 92 survey questions answered by 6,400 senior executives.
