Maintaining Malaysia’s status

The Government would address the shortcomings highlighted in the report and consolidate efforts across ministries towards maintaining Malaysia’s status as a preferred investment destination, he said.

Malaysia will also continue to benchmark itself against the best performers in the report.

Malaysia has already addressed areas such as improving productivity and enabling innovation especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The nation was also revolutionising the manufacturing services, enhanced automation and digitalisation to increase efficiency, optimisation of logistics and making prices more transparent and competitive, he said.

The Government, he said, was also preparing the SMEs against the backdrop of a more open environment and numerous free trade agreements that the country is resolved in, as well as the deeper economic trade integration in Asean.

The Government is working closely with experts and industry players in finalising the Malaysia Productivity Blueprint to address issues and challenges on productivity in a comprehensive manner.

He urged the companies to innovate fast as the private sector would define the country’s competitiveness.

The report also underscores the importance of avoiding the middle-income trap by placing increasing attention to business sophistication and innovation.

On this note, Mustapa said innovation was the name of the game that Malaysia would continue to embrace. — Bernama