MALAYSIA UP 2 SPOTS IN GLOBAL RANKINGS

It’s the only Southeast Asian nation to improve

MALAYSIA moved up two notches to 22nd in the Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Rankings published by IMD World Competitiveness Centre.

“Malaysia is the only economy (in Southeast Asia) to register an improvement of two positions, driven by a strong rebound in economic performance, especially in international trade,” the Switzerland-based research group said yesterday.

The top five most competitive economies remain the same as in last year, but their order changed.

The United States returned to the No. 1 spot from fourth place, driven mainly by its strength in economic performance and infrastructure.

It was followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Singapore, which remained unchanged at third place, retained its lead among economies in Southeast Asia, aided by its strong government efficiency.

However, IMD said: “Singapore continues to be weakened by high levels of private debt in the economy and high price level, especially in real estate, which reduces quality of life and talent attraction.”

Japan (25th), South Korea (27th) and India (44th) saw slight improvements. Asian countries that dropped a few rungs are Taiwan (17th), Thailand (30th) and Indonesia (43rd).

The Philippines experienced the most significant decline in the region, shifting nine places to 50th due to a decline in tourism and employment, the worsening of public finances and a surge in concerns about the education system.

“Countries from the region that experience declines this year, with the exception of Taiwan, show signs of a need to improve their tangible and scientific infrastructure,” IMD said.

The centre has been publishing the annual rankings since 1989.

This year, it benchmarked the performance of 63 economies based on more than 340 criteria measuring different facets of competitiveness.