KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia fell in competitiveness to 34th place out of 67 countries in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) rankings for this year.
This is a drop of seven places compared to its 27th position in 2023, according to the 2024 World Competitiveness Ranking placed Malaysia released this month. In 2022, Malaysia ranked 32nd; in 2021, 25th; and in 2020, 27th place.
For 2024, Malaysia fell behind neighbouring countries Indonesia, which rose to 27th from 34th in 2023, and Thailand which improved to 25th place from 30th. Singapore is in the top spot of the index followed by Switzerland and Denmark.
Competitiveness is measured on economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure, with feedback derived from statistical data and a perception survey with executives. For Malaysia, 6,612 respondents answered an online survey between February and May this year.
IMD found Malaysia’s economic performance to have dropped in competitiveness in terms of its domestic economy, international trade and prices. However, Malaysia recorded positive change in international investments and employment.
Under government efficiency, all five sub-sectors – public finance, tax policy, institutional framework, business legislation and society framework – recorded a drop of a few places. Malaysia also recorded improvements in the education sub-sector under infrastructure.
IMD says its ranking was created 36 years ago to provide “actionable data analysis” for countries to optimise their competencies. For 2024, three new economies were added to the index, namely Ghana, Nigeria and Puerto Rico. – June 18, 2024