KUALA LUMPUR – The government is confident that Malaysia’s position in the 2025 World Competitiveness Ranking will improve compared to this year, driven by the increase in high-technology product exports.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the reduction in the country’s high-technology exports had influenced Malaysia’s lower positioning in the list by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) last year, and this was a short-term situation that was expected to improve this year.
The minister said this was following the many new investments from electrical and electronics companies in Malaysia as well as those from multinational corporations.
“All of these (investments) will begin to have an effect in the next 12 to 18 months, and they will improve our position,” he said in a post on social media.
High-technology exports are products with extensive research and development components, such as those in the aerospace, computer, pharmaceutical, scientific instruments, chemical and electrical machinery sectors.
Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia’s lower position in the IMD competitiveness ranking resulted from a fall in electronic communications exports due to lower global demand and increased global competition for such products last year.
“For example, China’s high-technology exports in the first 10 months of 2023 fell 11.4% year-on-year to US$728.2 billion (RM3.432 trillion), while South Korea’s (high-technology exports) plummeted 28% to US$110 billion, and Japan was 10% lower to US$76.9 billion,” he said.
However, Tengku Zafrul said the global sales of semiconductors were projected to increase 16% in 2024 and 12.5% in 2025, benefiting Malaysia as the world’s sixth-largest semiconductor exporter.
“When demand for semiconductors increases, it is automatic for a country’s high-technology exports to increase too,” he explained.
Tengku Zafrul added that stable economic growth, low unemployment and an inflation rate that remained under control would improve Malaysia’s position in the near future. – June 22, 2024