PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been ranked 20th among 144 economies surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015.
According to a statement Wednesday by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), Malaysia was previously ranked 24th out of 148 countries and is now among the top 20 most competitive economies.
Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the nation remained the highest-ranked among developing Asian economies.
"It is also the second-most competitive economy among the 24 countries moving from an efficiency-driven to innovation stage of development," he said.
He added that Malaysia was ahead of developed economies such as Austria (21), Australia (22), France (23) and South Korea (26).
"Among Asia-Pacific countries, Malaysia has improved to sixth position out of 28 countries compared with seventh in the previous year.
Explaining that the ranking was assessed by 114 criteria organised into 12 pillars, Mustapa said the nation’s biggest improvement was in Institutions, followed by Financial Market Development.
"Malaysia also stands out as one of the few countries that has been successful in tackling the issues of corruption and red tape, and ranked fourth for the ease of government regulations.
"Despite the many achievements, the WEF highlighted that Malaysia needs to improve in a few areas such as the participation of women in the workforce, government budget balance, international internet bandwidth and technological readiness," he said.
Mustapa added that Malaysia's competitiveness required concerted efforts from both the private and public sectors, and that the Government would continue to ensure successful implementation of the National Transformation Policy.
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