The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2011-2012 has moved Malaysia up five places to rank 21 among 142 countries surveyed for business competitiveness.

Malaysia has regained its 2008 position, which the Najib Abdul Razak administration is attributing to its reform efforts.

wef competitiveness report 070911 mustapa mohamad By moving up five places, Malaysia has stemmed a three-year downward trend from 2008 to 2010.

Announcing this today at the International Trade and Industry Ministry, minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia is now ahead of developed countries such as South Korea, New Zealand and Luxembourg.

Among Asean countries, Malaysia is second only to Singapore and trails Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Australia in the Asia-Pacific region.

"I know we have gotten criticism on the success of GTP and ETP but this confirms we are on the right track and we are confident," Mustapa said.

He was referring to the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) and Economic Transformation Plan (ETP).

Malaysia also performed better in terms of index points by scoring 5.08 compared to 5.04 in 2008; 4.87 in 2009; and 4.88 in 2010.

The improved ranking was on the back of improvements in nine out of 12 categories surveyed, including institutions and market efficiency.

Malaysian institutions ranked 12 positions higher than 30th position last year, due to strong investor protection and reduced government regulation.

The GCR also ranks Malaysia 12th for prudent government spending.

Topping the GCR list is Switzerland, followed by Singapore and Sweden with economic superpower US in fifth position and while China ranks 26th.

Improvements required

Malaysia's ranking on crime and violence jumped a remarkable 33 spots compared to 2010, while reliability of police service rose from 50th spot to 39th this year.

azlan Crime is one of the GTP national key result areas.

Holding Malaysia back are technological readiness, an area in which the country was ranked lower than in 2010 at 44th spot.

Another area of concern is higher education and training, ranked 38th.

"To address this we set up a unit in the Prime Minister's Department in January which looks at research and development, (and) innovation, and (which) works with universities to ensure higher numbers of scientists and (to) absorb new technology from abroad," Mustapa added.

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