PwC: Malaysia to be 24th largest economy in the world by 2050

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, a medium-sized economy, is expected to improve its ranking to be the 24th largest in the world by 2050.

PwC Malaysia managing partner Sridharan Nair said Malaysia, already in the 27th position in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) contribution to the global economy, needed to invest in technology and education to further improve its ranking.

“Malaysia has a reputation for being pro-business and pro-investment,” he told Bernama during the 2018 Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce Business Summit here yesterday.

Malaysia would be on a steady growth path over the next 20 years, he said, adding that it would still do well despite some short-term ups and downs, as would be expected from a growing and emerging economy.

Malaysia has always been a trade and investment-friendly country with ease of doing business. However, according to Nair, Malaysia needs to tackle the issue of wage increase in tandem with the higher economic growth in order to benefit the people.

While Vietnam and Indonesia might rank higher in the global economy in terms of their contributions to the GDP due to the size of their population, he said, Malaysia was still doing well for a medium-sized economy.

Nair said the Emerging 7 economies (Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, India, Russia, China and Indonesia) were projected to dominate the world's top 10 economies in 2050.

South-East Asia, he pointed out, currently captured high value-added US investments. — Bernama