Malaysia moved up two notches to 22nd place in the latest IMD World Competitiveness Rankings published by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Centre.

“Malaysia is the only economy (in South-east Asia) to register an improvement of two positions, driven by a strong rebound in economic performance, especially in international trade,” the Switzerland-based research group said in a statement today.

The top five most competitive economies in the world remain the same as in 2017, but their order changed.

The United States returned to the number one spot from fourth place in the preceding year, driven mainly by its strength in economic performance and infrastructure. It was followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Singapore – which was unchanged at third place, globally, retained its lead among economies in South-east Asia, aided by its strong government efficiency.

However, the country “continues to be weakened by the high levels of private debt in the economy and the high price level, especially in real estate, which reduces quality of life and talent attraction,” IMD said.

Besides Malaysia, Japan (ranked 25th), South Korea (27th), and India (44th) saw slight improvements.

Asian countries that dropped a few rungs are Taiwan (17th), Thailand (30th) and Indonesia (43rd).

The Philippines experienced the most significant decline in the region, shifting nine places to 50th due to a decline in tourism and employment, the worsening of public finances and a surge in concerns over the education system, among others.

“Countries from the region that experience declines this year, with the exception of Taiwan, all show signs of a need to improve their tangible and scientific infrastructure,” said IMD.

The IMD World Competitiveness Center has been publishing the annual rankings since 1989.

This year, it benchmarked the performance of 63 economies based on more than 340 criteria measuring different facets of competitiveness.

Source: Bernama

Thirteen Malaysian companies, led by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), have made it into the Forbes 2018 Global 2000 list, which ranks the biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies in the world.

Criteria for the ranking include sales, profits, assets and market value.

The list of 2,000 companies, which was released today, include Maybank (394), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (503), CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (620), Public Bank Bhd (646), Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (1,268), RHB Bank Bhd (1,448), Axiata Group Bhd (1,508), Sime Darby Bhd (1,535), Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (1,568), Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (1,624), Maxis Bhd (1,779), Genting Bhd (1,811) and AMMB Holdings Bhd (1,911).

Forbes said Chinese companies extended their streak at the top of the Global 2000 list.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is ranked No. 1 for the sixth consecutive year. China Construction Bank remains in the No. 2 spot.

Source: The Edge Markets

Malaysia has gone up in ranks in terms of its people’s life expentancy, standard of living and knowledge status, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index.

Malaysia scored 0.802 in its Human Development Index (HDI) for 2017, which is considered as “very-high human development”, according to the 2018 statistical update of Human Development Indices and Indicators.

In 2016, the country’s score was 0.799.

Malaysia is ranked 57th out of 189 countries and territories, moving up one place.

Besides Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are the only other South-East Asian countries considered to have “very-high human development” status.

Singapore has a score of 0.932 (9th ranking) while Brunei has a score of 0.852 (39th ranking).

Thailand is considered to have high human development status while all the other Asean countries are considered to have medium human development statuses.

The HDI, which was first introduced in 1990, is defined as a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

According to the report, Malaysia’s HDI value increased from 0.643 in 1990 to 0.802 in 2017, an increase of 24.7%.

Between 1990 and 2017, Malaysia’s life expectancy at birth increased by 4.8 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.7 years and expected years of schooling increased by 4.0 years.

Malaysia’s gross national income (GNI) per capita also increased by about 156.7% between 1990 and 2017, according to the report.

Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany lead the HDI rankings, while Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores.

The HDI is based primarily on international data from the United Nations Population Division (the life expectancy data), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics (the mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling data) and the World Bank (the GNI per capita data).

Source: The Star

Malaysia has been ranked 55th in the World Bank’s 2018 human capital index, lagging behind Singapore which topped the list.

Malaysia scored a total 0.62 versus Singapore’s 0.88.

Singapore came in first ahead of South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Finland.

Chad was at the bottom of the list with a score of 0.29.

The index is measured in terms of the productivity of the next generation of workers relative to the benchmark of complete education and full health.

An economy in which the average worker achieves both full health and full education potential will score a value of 1 on the index.

The World Bank in its World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work released last Friday said greater investments in people’s health and education are urgent in a rapidly evolving labor market increasingly shaped by technology.

World Bank group president Kim Jim Yong said the nature of work is not only changing, but changing rapidly.

“We don’t know what jobs children in primary school today will compete for, because many of those jobs don’t exist yet.

“The great challenge is to equip them with the skills they’ll need no matter what future jobs look like – skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking, as well as interpersonal skills like empathy and collaboration.

“By measuring countries according to how well they’re investing in their people, we hope to help governments take active steps to better prepare their people to compete in the economy of the future,” he said.

The report said the number of robots operating worldwide is rising rapidly, the report says, stoking fears of a jobs meltdown.

But it said technology is laying down a path to create jobs, increase productivity and deliver effective public services.

The World Bank said fears surrounding innovation, which has already transformed living standards, are unfounded.

The report said digital technology spurs rapid innovation and growth, disrupting old production patterns and blurring the boundaries of firms.

New business models, such as digital platforms, evolve at dizzying speed from local start-ups to global behemoths – often with few tangible assets or employees.

The report futher added that four out of five people in developing countries have never known what it means to live with social protection.

It said with two billion people working in the informal sector, unprotected by stable wage employment, social welfare, or the benefits of education – new working patterns are adding to a dilemma that predates the latest technological wave.

The report challenged governments to take better care of their citizens, calling for a universal guaranteed minimum level of social protection.

It said full social inclusion will be costly, but it can be achieved with reforms in labor market regulation in some countries and, globally, a long overdue overhaul of taxation policy.

Source: The Edge Markets

Malaysia rose one spot to the 25th place out of 140 countries with a score of 74.4 in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2018 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) insight report released last week.

Additionally, report published Oct 11 said the country was one of three non-high-income economies feature in the top 40: Malaysia (25th), China (28th), and Thailand (38th).

In terms of macro economic stability, Malaysia ranked first; 24th for institutions, 32nd each for infrastucture and ICT adoption; 15th for financial system and 19th for business dynamism.

The GCR said adaptability and agility of all stakeholders—individuals, governments and businesses—will be key features in successful economies, adding Malaysia ranked 9th among future-ready nations.

It said the relationship between future-preparedness and income level is positive but extremely loose, with Malaysia scoring significantly higher than Greece, Italy and Belgium.

The GCR pointed out although Malaysia and Belgium have a similar GCI score, Belgium’s median income is three times higher than Malaysia’s.

The report said Malaysia’s results suggest its competitiveness performance, if maintained, will promote higher and sustained levels of income in the future.

Meanwhile, Singapore ranked second (score of 83.5) on the overall rankings behind the United States, as a result of a very strong performance across the board. Singapore features in the top 10 of seven pillars and in the top 20 of a further four.

The GCR said openness is the defining feature of this global trading hub and one of the main drivers of its economic success. Singapore leads the Infrastructure pillar, with a near-perfect score of 95.7.

Source: The Edge Markets

The United States is the world’s most competitive economy, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said on Wednesday, after revisions to its annual league table knocked Switzerland off the top spot for the first time in a decade.

Last year’s rankings, with a different methodology, placed the United States second.

Following is a table showing the top 30 countries, according to the World Economic Forum.

1 United States
2 Singapore
3 Germany
4 Switzerland
5 Japan
6 Netherlands
7 Hong Kong
8 United Kingdom
9 Sweden
10 Denmark
11 Finland
12 Canada
13 Taiwan
14 Australia
15 South Korea
16 Norway
17 France
18 New Zealand
19 Luxembourg
20 Israel
21 Belgium
22 Austria
23 Ireland
24 Iceland
25 Malaysia
26 Spain
27 United Arab Emirates
28 China
29 Czech Republic
30 Qatar

Source: Reuters

Report: Country among top 20 ranked global economies

Malaysia moved up nine places to secure a global ranking of 15 in the World Bank’s business index after carrying out six business reforms in the past year.

The acceleration in reform helped the country regain a position among the top 20 ranked economies in the world, according to the World Bank Group’s doing business 2019: training for reform report.

The reforms carried out over the past year covered the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, trading across borders and resolving insolvency.

In a statement, the group said Malaysia’s consistent efforts to adopt international regulatory best practices made the achievement possible.

“The World Bank congratulates Malaysia for making significant improvements in its business environment as captured by our Doing Business 2019 Report.

“We are committed to sustaining our support for this important reform agenda going forward with a focus on areas where entrepreneurs still experience difficulties,” World Bank Group country director for Malaysia Mara Warwick ( pic) said.

Among the reforms carried out was the introduction of an online registration system for the GST, reducing the time to register a new business from 23.5 days to 13.5 days.

The country also streamlined the process of obtaining a building permit, reducing the time needed to complete all required procedures to build a warehouse from 78 days to 54 days.

“Getting electricity was made easier by eliminating the site visit for new commercial electricity connections, reducing by seven days the time that it takes for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection and supply,” the group said in the statement.

Malaysia is also among the world’s top five performers in several areas.

The country ranked second place after New Zealand in the area of protecting minority investors, while a reform to improve construction permitting advanced Malaysia to a global rank of three in the area of dealing with construction permits.

In the area of Getting Electricity, Malaysia now ranks fourth globally.

The cost for businesses to obtain a commercial electricity connection here is only 26% of income per capita, compared with an average of 625% in East Asia and Pacific.

However, the group noted that Malaysia continued to underperform in the area of starting a business, with a global ranking of 122.

Despite reform measures carried out over the years, it takes 9.5 procedures and 13.5 days to register a new business in Malaysia, compared with two procedures and 1.5 days in Singapore and 3.5 procedures and 5.5 days in Brunei.

In a statement, the International Trade and Industry Ministry said regulatory reforms and improvements within the doing business indicator areas in Malaysia were driven by Pemudah.

“Moving forward, the structure will be strengthened to better address issues at the policy and execution levels,” it said.

Source: The Star

Malaysia climbed six spots to 22nd place among 63 countries in the International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD) World Talent Ranking for this year, sitting above richer nations like the UK, France and Japan.

The ranking is based on countries’ performance in three main categories: Investment and development, appeal and readiness.

The three categories assess how countries perform in a wide range of areas, including education, apprenticeships, workplace training, language skills, cost of living, quality of life, remuneration and tax rates.

For investment and development, Malaysia performed well in several aspects. It was ranked ninth for teacher-to-pupil ratio, sixth for apprenticeship and eighth for employee training.

It also fared well in terms of appeal. Under this category, the survey looked at criteria like cost of living, policies for attracting and retaining talent, brain drain and quality of life.

Malaysia’s relatively cheap living cost made it highly attractive, according to the survey, which ranked the country 10th in this aspect. It was also in the top 25 for talent retention. The report also described the country’s quality of life as “very high”.

As for readiness, gradings were based on the skill levels of a country’s workforce.

Malaysia was 11th in terms of talent availability, 15th for international work experience and in the top 30 on average for criteria related to the country’s education level and overall talent competitiveness.

IMD said Malaysia’s progress in the ranking is rooted in investments in education to develop its homegrown skilled workforce.

“In addition to improved perceptions about the quality of the talent pool available in the country,” the report said in its summary of the performance of Southern Asian nations.

Malaysia, however, remained relatively weak in terms of its performance in the Programmes for International Students Assessments or PISA, an evaluation of how good a country’s pupils are in maths, science and reading.

Western countries consider the three subjects to be the building blocks for technological and economic advancement.

Malaysia was ranked 41st among 63 countries.

Regional rival Singapore, on the other hand, maintained its position at the 13th spot, scoring well in all three main categories. But the expensive cost of living there has made it less attractive to talent.

The tiny island republic has consistently made it to the lists of the most expensive places to live in globally for several years now, mostly due to the exorbitant property market. It took 58th spot in this aspect.

Singapore was also ranked close to the bottom in terms of education funding, but that could be due to its already solid standing in the field. Its elite university, the National University of Singapore, is rated the best school in Asia.

In the report’s summary of the performance of South Asian nations, IMD said Singapore and Malaysia achieved the best placements in terms of talent competitiveness.

“Compared to last year, Singapore keeps the same position in the ranking and Malaysia moves up by six,” the report said.

Singapore continues to excel in appealing to professionals from abroad to sustain their top-tier talent pool but lags behind in terms of public investments in education, the report added.

Source: Malay Mail

Source: NST

If you’re a high-networth individual in Asia into fine dining, wine, jewellery and luxury skin cream, it’s best not to live in Shanghai.

The Chinese city overtook Hong Kong as the most expensive for a basket of luxury goods and services on a price-weighted basis, according to Bank Julius Baer & Co’s annual Wealth Report Asia, which tracks spending by the region’s rich.

Shanghai has also grown more pricey on a relative basis to buy property (although Hong Kong is still most expensive in that regard), hire a lawyer or purchase watches and handbags, the report found.

Kuala Lumpur retained its claim as the least expensive city in Asia – Malaysia’s capital is the best place to pick up a piano, indulge in cigars or book a hotel suite.

The report, in its eighth year, also introduced a new His & Hers Index to compare the cost of luxury goods for men and women in an attempt to answer the question: Is there a pink tax? Or, does it cost more for a woman to look good versus a man?

It will perhaps come as no surprise to anyone that women’s items cost more on average, with Seoul being the most expensive city for both male and female luxury goods. This is largely owing to an excise tax of up to 20% on certain imports.

On average, it costs US$2,158 more to purchase Julius Baer’s Hers Index relative to the His Index, although the differential is lower – by US$126 – when a wrist accessory is excluded.

The Hers index is skewed higher due to the Cartier Love Bracelet, a diamond-paved and white gold adornment that costs around US$48,143 in Shanghai (or US$41,818 in Kuala Lumpur).

At the other end of the spectrum, Jakarta is the cheapest overall for men’s luxury items while Mumbai is where you want to be shopping if you’re a lady.

In Hong Kong, Julius Baer’s basket of goods and services rose by 2.2% in 2018.

Source: Bloomberg

The association’s 2018 Corporate Governance (CG) Watch report ranked Malaysia fourth out of 12 Asia-Pacific economies in terms of market accountability and transparency, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“This is a significant improvement from seventh place in 2016 when the report was previously published. This means Malaysia is the biggest 2018 gainer among regional rivals that include Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore,” Lim said in a statement.

He said ACGA had noted that the improvement reflects Malaysia’s “concrete moves” to tackle endemic corruption issues fostered by the previous administration.

The improvement, he added, proves that the government’s continuous effort to instil the principles of competency, accountability and transparency in its administration is bearing fruit.

“The report states that the jump is based on optimism over the May 9, 2018 political change in Malaysia, which has translated into tangible improvements to enforcement and reporting,” Lim said.

In addition to the anti-corruption measures undertaken, Lim said the government has ensured the open tender system is widely implemented, which has not only increased transparency in the public sector, but also has had a positive impact on the local market.

“The application of zero-based budgeting and the migration towards accrual accounting from cash accounting by 2021 as announced in the 2019 Budget are also part of the government’s wider institutional reform agenda that will further raise the level of accountability and transparency in the government,” he added.

Lim said the improvement in ranking is only one example of how the government’s institutional reform agenda is raising Malaysia’s governance quality and contributing to fiscal sustainability.

“The biggest proof that the government’s plan is working can be seen in the surge of approved foreign direct investment in manufacturing of 379% year-on-year since May 2018 as reported by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority,” he said.

These institutional reforms undertaken by the government have also convinced the top three rating agencies to maintain Malaysia’s sovereign credit ratings at A- or A3 with Moody’s being the latest one to have done so, Lim noted.

Source: The Edge Markets

Malaysia ranked fifth among top 10 developing economies in Asia for its readiness to support online shopping, based on the 2018 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce index.

A report on the B2C E-Commerce Index by UNCTAD, released on Dec 10, said Malaysia has had strong B2C sales contribution to its gross domestic product (GDP) since 2016 and was among the top five countries including United Kingdom, China, Ireland and Thailand.

Malaysia also improved its overall ranking, among developing economies, to 34th placing from 39th last year, ahead of Thailand (43), Turkey (47), Iran (49), Chile (50) and Saudi Arabia (52).

The index was evaluated, among others, from the share of individuals using the Internet, share of individuals with an account, secure Internet servers (normalise) and UPU postal reliability score.

B2C sales accounted for 6.4 per cent of Malaysia’s GDP in 2016.

“This is because the government partnered Chinese e-commerce company, Alibaba, to establish a dedicated e-commerce technology park, Digital Free Trade Zone, the first such facility in South East Asia,” it said, adding that the digital readiness had attracted foreign direct investments in the B2C sector.

“And, so far, Alibaba has invested US$100 million in Malaysia.

Source: Bernama