MALAYSIA has slipped seven notches to 32nd in the 2022 International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR).
Thailand also fell from 28th to 33rd spot, and Indonesia from 37th to 44th, driven by the slow reopening of the economy post-Covid-19 compared with the European Union and the US.
Meanwhile, China dropped one spot to 17 from 16, reversing the country’s strong upward trend in recent years, signalling a poor economic recovery exacerbated by its zero-COVID strategy.
“Going forward, China needs to restructure the economy from manufacturing to high-value services and from investment to consumption,” IMD said in a statement.
“It also needs to build a unified national market to enhance long-term economic prosperity, and it will only achieve its socio-economic development goals by using a macroeconomic policy mix.”
Nonetheless, China still tops the Asia Pacific (APAC) economies along with Singapore (third), Hong Kong (fifth) and Taiwan (seventh).
Singapore moved up from fifth to third spot, enjoying its highest position in the APAC region, recording substantial improvements in the domestic economy, employment, public finance, productivity and efficiency.
However, it remained in relatively low positions in several sub-factors, including management practices (14th), scientific infrastructure (16th) and health and environment (25th).
It has also been noted that India has the sharpest rise among the Asian economies, moving from 43rd to 37th spot after four stagnant years.
Its stellar performance saw a six-spot jump after four stagnant years. This was primarily due to gains in its economic performance and business efficiency.
IMD WCC chief economist Christos Cabolis said besides inflationary pressure affecting most economies, other global challenges affecting the competitiveness of countries include variants of COVID-19.
This includes the number of infected people around the world; differing national policies to address COVID (the ‘zero-tolerance COVID’ policy versus the ‘moving on from COVID’ policy); and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The 2022 World Competitiveness Ranking assessed 63 economies. – June 15, 2022
