Malaysia moves up two spots for global competitiveness

Malaysia has improved in terms of competitiveness, moving up two spots in IMD's 2018 World Competitiveness Rankings to take 22nd place globally.

In Asia Pacific, Hong Kong (2nd globally) and Singapore (3rd globally) took the top spots, followed by Mainland China (13th globally) and Taiwan (17th globally), while Australia (19th globally) rounded up the top five.

The 10 most competitive countries in Asia Pacific were:

#1 Hong Kong Global rank: 2nd

#2 Singapore Global rank: 3rd

#3 China Mainland  Global rank: 13th

#4 Taiwan Global rank: 17th

#5 Australia Global rank: 19th

#6 Malaysia Global rank: 22nd

#7 New Zealand Global rank: 23rd

#8 Japan Global rank: 25th

#9 Republic of Korea Global rank: 27th

#10 Thailand Global rank: 30th

The report noted the region saw mixed results. While Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and India (44th globally) all saw slight improvements, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia (43rd globally) dropped a few places. It observed countries from the region that experienced declines this year, with the exception of Taiwan, all showed signs of a need to improve their tangible and scientific infrastructure.

Globally, despite a change in order, the top five most competitive economies in the world remained the same as in the previous year.

The United States improved three positions to return to the top spot, followed by Hong Kong (dropping a spot to 2nd), and Singapore which remained 3rd.

The top five was rounded up by the Netherlands (which moved up one place), and Switzerland (which dropped a place).

The remaining places in the top 10 were occupied largely by Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden rank 6th, 8th and 9th respectively. While the UAE (7th) and Canada (10th) close the top of the rankings.

Arturo Bris noted: "This year's results reinforce a crucial trait of the competitiveness landscape. Countries undertake different paths towards competitiveness transformation."

He added: "Countries at the top of the rankings share an above the average performance across all competitiveness factors, but their competitiveness mix varies. One economy, for example, may build its competitiveness strategy around a particular aspect such as its tangible and intangible infrastructure; another may approach competitiveness through their governmental efficiency."

The rankings are compiled by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, a research group at IMD business school in Switzerland, using 258 indicators. 'Hard' data such as national employment and trade statistics are weighted twice as much as the 'soft' data from an Executive Opinion Survey that measures the business perception of issues such as corruption, environmental concerns and quality of life. This year 63 countries are ranked.

Check out the full ranking here:

[gallery link="file" ids="102543,102542"]

Photo / 123RF