Malaysia up 4 spots to 19th in Competitiveness Ranking

Source: The Star Online

Date: 24/05/2008

Malaysia’s moving up the competitiveness rankings is the result of improvements in hard data rather than perception surveys.

Malaysia has moved up four spots to 19th place with a score of 73.2 points out of 100 in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2008 published by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) based in Switzerland.

Last year, Malaysia was ranked 23rd with 74.1 points.

At a seminar on “Updates on Malaysia’s Competitiveness 2008” yesterday, Malaysia Productivity Corp (MPC) director general Datuk Nik Zainiah Nik Abd Rahman said: “The overall improved performance on Malaysia was attributed largely to the improvement in the rankings for statistical (or hard) data, where 46 out of 127 of the statistical data recorded improvements in ranking.”

However, she added that the MPC was also concerned with perception data, given that in today’s environment “perception was reality.”

The IMD ranking on perception data for Malaysia found that 43 out of 118 of recorded data showed an improvement. Perception data has a lower weightage in IMD’s yearbook rankings.

Going forward, MPC’s focus was on improving government efficiency in providing services to the public “especially to the private sector,” Nik Zainiah said.

MPC director Chan Kum Siew told the seminar said that in percentage terms Malaysia recorded a 35% improvement in statistical data rankings and also 35% improvement in perception data.“

Business efficiency showed the majority of improvement in rankings in the perception data,” she added.

Chan identified several challenges facing Malaysia, including achieving a customer-centric, innovative and proactive public service; nurturing innovative and resilient small and medium enterprises, and leveraging on public-private partnership to move the economy up the value chain.

Malaysia, she added, also needed to raise the innovative and creative capacity of human capital and enhance the scientific and technological infrastructure to meet the needs of a competitive economy