Source : NST
KL now cheaper for expatriates
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Source : NST
KL now cheaper for expatriates
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Source : NST
Malaysia remains in top 25 list
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Source : NST
Malaysia 9th preferred destination for education
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Source : NST
Malaysia is Top Muslim Travel Spot
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Kuala Lumpur has been ranked among the top cities with the best integrated development in South-East Asia, second only to Singapore.
The study by Dr Mario Arturio Ruiz Estrada, a senior research fellow at Universiti Malaya, ranked Kuala Lumpur higher in social and political dimensions compared to Singapore.
“Singapore portrays itself as a developed nation but many do not realise its social and political weaknesses. For example, how many political parties are there in Singapore?
“You can’t see big opposition parties like DAP and PAS contesting in the general election there. Here, you are allowed to protest on the streets,” said Dr Ruiz Estrada at a recent seminar organised by UM’s Centre for Poverty and Development Studies (CPDS).
The study was part of an index which he was working on called the integrated gross city internal product (IGCIP).
Dr Ruiz Estrada explained that IGCIP was a more holistic measure of a city’s socio-economic performance compared to that of the Gross Domestic Product.
“The GDP does not tell you the share of wealth among a country’s citizens. And it is impossible to perfectly calculate the GDP.
“As such, there needs to be an index which can capture the social aspects, including the welfare of the people,” he added.
Dr Ruiz Estrada said the IGCIP was divided into four dimensions – social, politics, technology and the economy.
Malaysia rated 0.50 on the IGCIP.
This made it above Bangkok (0.39), Jakarta (0.29) and Manila (0.27) but below that of Singapore (0.59).
He added that socially, Singapore also faced inequality in terms of wealth.
Citing Credit Suisse, Dr Ruiz Estrada said 73% of Singapore’s wealth was owned by the wealthiest 20% of its population, which he described as “the elites”.
Dr Ruiz Estrada, who has been working in Malaysia for the past 16 years, said the study was not meant to criticise any country but to identify areas which could be improved for the welfare of its citizens.
“It is to tell you where the problems lie and how they can be addressed using policies,” he said in an interview after the seminar.
In Malaysia’s case, Dr Ruiz Estrada said the country could improve on its social and political development.
The study, which covers 100 cities, is expected to be published in October after a three-year effort by Dr Ruiz Estrada.
KL ranked among top cities
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International Living, in its Annual Global Retirement Index 2017, honoured Malaysia for the third consecutive year by singling out the country as having the “Best Healthcare in the World”
This is indeed a praiseworthy international recognition, as Malaysia tops a list of 24 countries. The ranking is based on:The price of medical proceduresFacilities availableQuality/number of hospitalsQuality/number of trained doctorsAffordability of care
The 24 countries in the listing by International Living are: – 1. Malaysia 2. Mexico 3. Panama 4. Ecuador 5. Costa Rica 6. Columbia 7. Spain 8. Nicaragua 9. Portugal 10. Malta 11. Honduras 12. Thailand 13. Italy 14. Peru 15. Belize 16. France 17. Cambodia 18. Bolivia 19. Philippines 20. Dominican Rep. 21. Ireland 22. Guatemala 23. Uruguay 24. Vietnam
This accomplishment is testament to Malaysia’s well-developed healthcare system which is highly accessible, has competitively affordable rates, and is of world-class quality.
“The government, through the Ministry of Health, ensures stringent and rigorously-observed regulations are put in place to safeguard impeccable standards of quality, safety and ethics in Malaysian healthcare services as a whole, whilst also ensuring that healthcare in Malaysia remains accessible to anyone who needs it,” said Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam when commenting on the index.
“The Ministry is humbled and inspired by this recognition and shall continue our commitment in providing the best quality healthcare for our patients,” he added. –BERNAMA641 reads
Source: NSTP
International Living rates M’sia’s healthcare system as world’s best
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RAM Rating Services Bhd has reaffirmed Malaysia’s respective global and Asean-scale sovereign ratings of ‘A2/stable’ and ‘AAA/stable’, respectivly, reflecting the countrys resilient economic growth and the Government’s fiscal consolidation efforts.
In a statement on Wednesday, RAM said, although Malaysia’s external-resilience parameters had worsened amid a sustained fall in commodity prices and the country’s reduced foreign exchange reserves, they were still supportive of its current ratings.
The agency said Malaysia’s ratings remained constrained by high government and household debt levels.
Its head of sovereign ratings, Esther Lai, said the country’s economy was forecast to expand at a marginally faster pace of 4.5% in 2017 from an estimated 4.2% in 2016, underpinned by growing private domestic demand and a diversified economic structure.
“This pace of economic activity remains resilient despite various growth headwinds, which include the increase in prices of various consumer goods, persistent depreciation of the ringgit and heightened global risk aversion to emerging markets,” she said.
Meanwhile, RAM said, Malaysia’s current account surplus was expected to remain in surplus at 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 (2016 estimate: 1.3%), attributable to sustained demand for capital imports and low oil prices.
On the Federal Government debt, RAM said, it was expected to decline to 52% of GDP in 2017 from 53.4% in September 2016 due to fiscal consolidation efforts and the transfer of debt off balance sheet.
The agency said the adjusted government debt, which included debt (both guaranteed and non-guaranteed) issued by strategic public sector entities, was estimated to reach 66.4% of GDP by end-2016.
“This level is higher than that of regional peers and is a key moderating factor of the ratings.
“That said, the debt structure remains favourable, as most of the papers are denominated in ringgit (96.5%) and are generally long-tenured,” it said.
It said amid the still volatile external conditions, Malaysia’s ratings could be revised downwards if its fiscal position deteriorated as a result of rising on and off balance sheet debt.
“Similarly, the ratings could face pressure if there is a persistent current account deficit or if there are significant deviations in the country’s economic or fiscal reforms,” it said. – Bernama
Source : The Star
RAM reaffirms Malaysia’s global, Asean-scale sovereign ratings
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Kuala Lumpur is in 11th spot in the top 100 emerging ecosystems in the world, as identified in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 by Startup Genome.
Earlier this year, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) partnered with Startup Genome to benchmark Kuala Lumpur’s performance against more than 250 ecosystems globally, which revealed that Kuala Lumpur is third in the top 10 ecosystems by value, at US$15.3 billion (RM65.5 billion), against a global average of US$10.5 billion.
Total early-stage funding amounted to US$99 million, compared with the global average of US$4.31 million.
In addition, the report positioned Kuala Lumpur as an ideal locale for startups, citing low costs, high quality of living and talent, fast-tracked visas and robust government support as prime reasons for entrepreneurs to either start or move their businesses to Malaysia.
MDEC CEO Surina Shukri attributed the positive rankings of Kuala Lumpur to the entrepreneurial vigour of local startup founders and the astuteness of the ecosystem players, which are aptly positioning Malaysia as the “Heart of Digital Asean”.
“We will not rest on our laurels and will remain steadfast in propelling Malaysia’s startup ecosystem to attain global recognition in the economic epicentres of every continent,” added Surina.
Low costs, high quality of living and talent, fast-tracked visas and robust government support make Kuala Lumpur an ideal locale for startups, says report.
Source: The Sun Daily
Kuala Lumpur ideal locale for startups: Report
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Malaysia has moved up three notches to12th spot among 60 economies in the World Competitiveness Ranking 2014 released today by the Switzerland-based IMD World Competitiveness Centre.
IMD World Competitiveness Center Director, Professor Arturo Bris told the New Straits Times that the improved ranking would renew interest and attract investments to the country.
Malaysia has improved its openness to foreign markets and attracted capital and investment at increasing rates, Bris added.
Among countries in Asia, Malaysia is ranked third after Singapore and Hong Kong, moving up one position from 4th placing last year and ahead of developed economies like Taiwan (overall 13th), Japan (overall 21st) and South Korea (overall 26th). Malaysia is also ahead of China which came in at 23rd placing and India at no.44 overall.
Within ASEAN, Malaysia is ranked second after Singapore, followed by Thailand (overall 29), Indonesia (overall 37) and the Philippines (overall 42).
Among countries with a population above 20 million, Malaysia moved up to 4th position from 5th last year.
The overall ranking took into consideration over 300 criteria, two-thirds of which are based on statistical indicators and one-third on an exclusive IMD survey of 4,300 global executives.
The criteria are grouped under four categories economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
The United States remained as the most competitive economy in the world this year, followed by Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sweden among the top five in the ranking.
Meanwhile, the Minister of International Trade and Industry, Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed in a statement, said the 12th position was Malaysia’s best performance in the past four years and reflected the progress of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
Source: NST Business Times and The Star 22 May 2014 and IMD website
Malaysia moves up to 12 spot in global competitiveness ranking
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Malaysia emerges amongst the ASEAN-5 as the economy that will likely experience the fastest growth in 2014, according to RHB Research Institute.
ASEAN-5 comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Malaysia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase to 5.4 per cent in 2014, after recording a growth rate of 4.7 per cent in 2013.
Private investment, mainly through domestic demand, will continue to propel this growth, even though increasing at a more moderate pace as a result of rising costs.
“An improvement in external demand for the country’s exports, will also contribute to the country’s increased growth,” the institute noted its economic report today.
Real exports are set to pick-up pace to 4.5 per cent in 2014, from -0.3 per cent in 2013, due to steady demand from the developed economies and sustained growth in the regional economies.
Projected consumer spending will be around 6.0 per cent in 2014, after increasing at a relatively strong pace of 7.6 per cent in 2013.
Consumer spending will likely be sustained, underlined by stable employment conditions, rising consumerism, high savings, as well as continued wage growth, said the report.
Fiscal deficit will be reduced to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2014, compared with 3.9 per cent in 2013.
The reduction in the country’s fiscal deficit is attributed to increased revenue collection, stronger economic growth, efficient spending and the implementation of expenditure reforms.
Inflation may increase to between 3.0-3.4 per cent in 2014, up from 2.1 per cent in 2013, taking into account the expected fuel price increase in the second half of 2014, forecasts the institute.
Adapted from BERNAMA, 30 April 2014
Malaysia: Fastest growing economy in ASEAN-5 in 2014
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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
Malaysia among world’s twenty most business-friendly locations
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A.T Kearney Malaysia Partner and Managing Director, Joon Ooi said despite the relatively smaller pool of talents as compared with India and China, which have been ranked in top and second spots respectively, Malaysia, outranks both countries in terms of ease of doing business and is financially more attractive than China.
The consulting firm also noted Malaysia’s competitive advantages in its political stability and multilingual environment.
Malaysia, Ooi said, offers an offshore destination of choice for companies with mid-sized demand and a lower risk appetite.
ASEAN countries also featured prominently in the survey with five countries being ranked among the top 15 countries in the ranking. Besides Malaysia, Indonesia came in at 5th position followed by Thailand at 6th spot, Philippines, 7th and Vietnam, 12th.
Source: Bernama 22 Sept 2014 and AT Kearney website
Malaysia is 3rd top offshore location in A.T. Kearney’s global ranking
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One of PEMANDU’s achievements outlined in the report was the unit’s contribution that led to a 35 % drop in reported street crime within a year in the country.
The report, unveiled on Monday in London, came about following Bloomberg Philanthropies and Nesta’s comprehensive assessment of government innovation teams across six continents. It also reveals that innovation requires dedicated capacity, specific skills, methods, partnerships, and consistent political support and how these elements have been combined successfully to achieve impressive results.
Nesta Deputy Chief Executive, Philip Colligan, who was a co-author of the report said governments have been responsible for among the greatest innovations in modern history.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the global recognition accorded PEMANDU shows that Malaysia is on the right track to become a developed and a high-income nation by 2020.
The Prime Minister said PEMANDU which was set up in 2009, has been tasked to support the implementation the National Transformation Programme through the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
The GTP is focused on modernising the public service while the ETP sets to attract private investments both foreign and domestic into the country.
Source: New Straits Times 3 July 2014 and Nesta website
PEMANDU among world’s top 20 leading Government innovation teams
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Malaysia was ahead of Taiwan, India, Korea, China, Philippines and Indonesia. The top three were Hong Kong and Singapore (first) and Japan (third).
Highlighted in the report were Malaysia’s continued and determined efforts in ensuring governance reforms, resulting in it becoming the only country in the Asia Pacific Region assessed that had constantly improved its scores in each of the last four surveys.
The report cited Malaysia’s consistent improvements included corporate governance culture, rules and practices, enforcement, accounting and auditing.
Malaysia’s progress was ascribed to the recently launched Malaysian Code for Institutional Investors- the first in ASEAN and second in emerging markets, voluntary poll voting by several companies and improved communication by corporate Malaysia.
These outcomes resulted from the implementation of recommendations under the Corporate Governance Blueprint launched by the Securities Commission in 2011.
Malaysia’s Securities Commission’s Audit Oversight Board was acknowledged in the report as “one of the better organized and transparent audit regulators in the region”.
Source: Adapted from NST, 9 October 2014 and ACGA Report 2014
Higher score for Malaysia in corporate governance
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Rob Mooren, ARCADIS Global Director of Infrastructure, in the company’s press release said: “Good infrastructure is important for the long term economic development of a country. Many governments are struggling to finance infrastructure investments. As traditional debt markets are now harder to access, governments need to find alternative finance and agree to progressing projects. By encouraging private finance into infrastructure, governments can remain globally competitive and meet their social and economic objectives.”
Singapore, which topped the GIII, and Malaysia are the only two countries in Southeast Asia being ranked among the top ten most attractive countries for infrastructure investment in 2014.
Source: Bernama 23 Sept 2014 and ARCADIS’s press release on GIII
Malaysia is 7th most attractive country for infrastructure investment
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The new IMD report also identifies the most talent-competitive countries based on calculation of historical World Talent Rankings for each year from 2005 to 2014 and these are defined as those that ranked in the top 10 for five or more years during the ten-year period.
The report, which covered 60 countries, took into account a country’s ability to develop, attract and retain talent for companies that operate there. The report looked into 20 indicators within three key areas: investment and development in home-grown talent; appeal, which is a country’s ability to retain home-grown talent and attract talent from overseas; and readiness, an indication of a country’s ability to fulfil market demands with its available talent pool.
Under the investment and development factor, Denmark led the pack followed by Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Sweden. For the appeal factor, Switzerland is the top ranked with Germany in second position followed by the United States, Ireland and Malaysia while in the readiness category, Switzerland has also been ranked first, ahead of Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates.
In unveiling the report on Thursday, IMD World Competitiveness Centre Director Prof Arturo Bris said “The best-ranked countries have a balanced approach between their commitment to education, investment in developing local talent and their ability to attract overseas talent.” Countries with smart talent strategies are also highly agile in developing policies that improve their talent pipeline, he added.
Among the five ASEAN countries surveyed, Malaysia has been placed ahead of Singapore at second position (overall 16) followed by Indonesia (overall 25), Thailand (overall 34) and Philippines (overall 41).
Source: NST Business Times 24 Nov 2014 and IMD website
Malaysia ranks 5th in IMD world talent rankings
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Malaysia is ranked 18th out of 189 economies in the World Bank Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency report released yesterday.
For 2015 report, the World Bank has adopted a new methodology due to several limitations posed by the previous methodology such as loss of information, inability to track progress and inequality in business-friendliness measured in larger countries.
The new ranking is based on the distance to frontier (DTF) score rather than the percentile rank. The 10 areas of Doing Business covered in the report are starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
In the 2015 report, Malaysia has recorded improvements in five of the 10 areas covered in the report. Malaysia’s score edged up to 78.83 points from last year’s 76.84 points.
For starting a business, Malaysia recorded the closest DTF points of 94.9% and ranked 13th.The time required to start a business in Malaysia has been reduced to 5.5 days, from six days before, while on cost, referring to percentage of income per capita, it has been reduced to 7.2 % from the previous 7.6%.
On dealing with construction permits, the number of procedures has been reduced to 13 from 15 and it is now ranked 28th from 39th spot in 2014.
On getting electricity, cost in Malaysia has reduced to 46.3 % from 49.1 %.
On registering property, it now takes 13.5 days from the previous 14 days.
It now takes one year from 1.5 years previously, while recovery rate (cents on the dollar) improved to 81.3 from 48.9.
On resolving insolvency, Malaysia recorded a vast improvement in ranking from No. 65 to No. 36. It now takes one year from1.5 years before, while recovery rate (cents on the dollar) improved to 81.3 from 48.9.
Malaysia is ranked high at 5th spot in protecting minority investors and is at a commendable11th placing for trading across borders.
The Minister of International Trade and Industry, Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed in a statement said that the ranking reaffirmed the country’s consistently competitive performance globally.
Noting the areas that need further improvements such as registering property, getting credit and enforcing contracts, the next high-level Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH) will look into ways to address these areas, Malaysia Productivity Corporation Director-General Datuk Mohd Razali Hussain said after chairing a video conference with the Washington-based World Bank in Kuala Lumpur on the report, yesterday.
The World Bank Senior Country Economist for Malaysia, Frederico Gil Sander explained that the lower scores in some of the areas using the new DTF method did not mean a sudden decline in performance, citing the example of getting credit, as different things were being added in the 2015 evaluation.
Among ASEAN countries, Malaysia came in second after Singapore which was ranked at the top while ahead of other member countries with Thailand at No. 26, Vietnam (78), Philippines (95), Brunei (101), Indonesia (114), Cambodia (135), Lao PDR (148) and Myanmar (177).
Malaysia stayed ahead of advanced economies such as Taiwan (19th), Switzerland (20th), Netherlands (27th), Japan (29th) and also ahead of China (90th) and India (142th).
Overall, Singapore topped the list, followed by, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Source: Bernama 29 Oct 2014, New Straits Times and The Star 30 Oct 2014 and World Bank Doing Business 2015 Report
Posted on : 29 October 2014
Malaysia ranks 18th in World Bank Ranking
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KUALA LUMPUR: SOVEREIGN rating agency Moody’s reaffirmed rating for Malaysia puts the country in a stronger chance of securing an upgrade in the future, said Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
“Maintaining a positive outlook at the time of cyclical downturn demonstrates that Moody’s gives credit to the government for prudent policy management,” he said in response to the rating agency’s report last week.
Moody’s Investors Service on Friday affirmed the government bond and issuer ratings at A3, with positive outlook.
It said many of the fiscal adjustments to Malaysia’s operating expenditure demonstrates the government’s commitment to meeting its fiscal rules and sustaining its fiscal consolidation trend.
It said although downside risks to global oil prices remain, the consequent risks to Malaysia’s budget are manageable, given the government’s decreasing reliance on oil revenue.
Speaking to Business Times, Irawan said: “The ratings agency also acknowledges that Malaysia has successfully diversified away from being energy dependent, which has made the country less vulnerable to shocks.
“With this reaffirmation, we have a strong chance of securing an upgrade in the future.” Irwan added that Moody’s reaffirmation also showed the strong fundamentals of the Malaysian economy.
Moody’s cited key drivers on its decision on Malaysia, namely the government’s intention to adhere to its policy of deficit reduction, and the ability of the country’s macroeconomic stability, domestic capital market depth, and a favourable government debt structure to resist an adverse external economic environment, lower oil prices and global financial market volatility.
Rating upgrade for Malaysia?
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Source : New Straits Times
Infrastructure projects drive KL global rankings
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Source : New Straits Time
Malaysia is 6th most business-friendly country
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“This endorsement dissolves lingering misperceptions and attests the country’s improving economic fundamentals and the government’s prudent, proactive, and pragmatic policies to restructure and diversify the economy,” he said.
Among Asean countries, only Malaysia and Singapore made it to the top 10, ahead of countries like Indonesia which ranked 12th, Vietnam (23rd), Philippines (30th), and Thailand which came in at the 38th position.
The BPI, a ranking of destinations of attractiveness for foreign investor published by the Foreign Policy Magazine, was first introduced by Daniel Altman, an adjunct professor of New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2013.
The index evaluates 110 countries across six continents, based on eight factors comprising economic growth, financial stability, physical security, corruption, expropriation by government, exploitation by local partners, capital controls, and exchange rates.
According to Azman, Malaysia has consistently registered a double-digit growth of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) since 2010, and has exceeded the average annual investment target of RM148 billion set forth in the 10th Malaysia Plan with a growth rate of 12.6% per annum.
“In the first quarter this year (1Q15), the GFCF has also surpassed the 1Q14 figures by 13.6%, from RM45.3 billion to RM51.5 billion in 1Q15.
“As of June 2015, Mida already has several exciting projects in the pipeline with investments worth RM25.8 billion for the manufacturing and services sectors.
“Building on this good track record of investment performance, we will continue to align our investment promotion activities with the 11th Malaysia Plan to ensure a significant leap in investment activities that are crucial towards achieving a high-income economy,” he said.
Source : Kinibiz
Malaysia up to 6th in Baseline Profitability Index
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Source : Bernama
Malaysia is world’s 8th most efficient government
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Source : Berita Harian
Malaysia tangga kelapan paling efisien : Laporan WEF
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Source Utusan Malaysia
Kerajaan Malaysia ke-8 paling cekap di dunia
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Source : NST Business Time
S&P keeps country’s
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