Malaysia among world’s twenty most business-friendly locations

Malaysia moves up five notches to 19th spot to join the world’s twenty most business-friendly locations among 82 countries surveyed in the latest Business Environment Ranking and Index 2014 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The EIU ranks Malaysia at 19th position for the five-year period from 2014 to 2018 as against 24th position from 2009 to 2013.

The ranking is based not only on historical conditions but also on expectations about conditions prevailing over the next five years, the report said.

Singapore, Switzerland and Hong Kong remain as the top three most business-friendly locations.

Malaysian Investment Development Authority Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Azman Mahmud said the ranking is a reflection of the continuous improvement in the delivery of public services and overall efficiency of the government machinery.

It also reflected the government’s commitment in its initiatives to strengthen Malaysia’s competitiveness to become a developed nation by 2020.

The report also indicated that market opportunities in Malaysia would improve, attributing it mainly to the government’s efforts to increase private sector investments.

The improved global ranking shows that the government’s reforms under the Government Transformation Programmes will overcome many of the structural and political impediments to the country’s target to transform into a high-income nation by 2020, it said.

The EIU also noted that Asia’s best performers appeared to have several similar factors, ie a favourable policy environment, particularly for finance and foreign investment and competition policies that encompass international best practice.

Meanwhile, for the first quarter of the year, Malaysia registered a 52.7% jump in investments in the manufacturing sector alone, securing some RM17.1 billion, compared with the same quarter last year.

Source: NST Business Times 18 June 2014, EIU and MIDA