Malaysia among Asean’s top emerging economies – WEF

MALAYSIA has beaten its neighbors to be named one of The World Economic Forum’s top emerging economy in its annual Global Competitiveness Report.

The country ranked 23rd out of 137 countries, improving its ranking from 25th last year. It narrowly beat China which came 27th (after ranking 28^th last year).

Malaysia took second spot among nine Asean countries with Thailand ranked at 32nd place, Indonesia (36), Brunei Darussalam (46), Vietnam (55), Philippines (56), Cambodia (94) and Laos (98). Singapore took top honors at third place.

The lowest-ranked performer among the region’s advanced economies continues to be the Republic of Korea.

The annual report, measures national competitiveness among countries, which it defines as “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity”.

The study used 70 percent survey data from the United Nations and 30 percent data from 137 countries, and tracks the performance of the 137 countries on 12 pillars of competitiveness via the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).

Further marking itself as an important region for business, this year, Malaysia will host the Global Innovation Summit (GIS) in December. This is the first time GIS convenes in South East Asia with the previous ones held in Canada (2014), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2015), London, UK (2016).

Furthermore, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a National Transformation aspiration to become the “Top 20 Nation in the world by 2050”.

In October, the country released its annual budget entitled “Prospering an Inclusive Economy, Balancing Between Worldly and Hereafter, For The Wellbeing of the Rakyat, Towards the TN50 Aspiration” which outlined initiatives to leverage the opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital economy.

---

---

---

---