Indonesia & Thailand Overtake Malaysia in World Competitiveness Ranking for 1st Time as We Drop to 34th

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has released its latest edition of the World Competitiveness Ranking which made for bad reading for Malaysians.

This is because our country dropped 7 spots in the ranking to 34th place out of 67 countries and for the 1st time ever, our neighbouring countries Thailand and Indonesia have overtaken us in the index.

World Competitiveness Ranking 2024

The World Competitiveness Ranking 2024 is a report that analyses and ranks the capacity of 67 countries to create and maintain an environment that sustains the competitiveness of enterprises.

Furthermore, the report gauges the competitiveness of a country’s economy by considering several factors, namely Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure.

Indonesia and Thailand overtake Malaysia for the 1st time in the ranking

For illustration purposes

In the overall ranking, Singapore climbed 3 spots to claim the top spot in the rankings, followed by Switzerland in 2nd place.

Here are the top 10 most competitive countries according to the report:

1. Singapore
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Hong Kong
6. Sweden
7. UAE
8. Taiwan
9. Netherlands
10. Norway

After Singapore, the highest-placing Southeast Asian country is Thailand in 25th place, followed by Indonesia in 27th, Malaysia in 34th and the Philippines in 52nd spot.

Malaysia’s worst performance in the ranking’s history

For Malaysia, IMD noted that we’re now ranked in the worst position over the past 5 years at 34th place, dropping 7 spots from 27th in 2023.

Moreover, we dropped in the rankings for all the factors considered in the study, except for 1, which is Infrastructure, where we retained 35th place.

Here are our global rankings based on the factors considered:

• Economic Performance – 8th (dropped 1 spot)
• Government Efficiency – 33rd (dropped 4 spots)
• Business Efficiency – 40th (dropped 8 spots)
• Infrastructure – 35th (maintained the same spot)

Besides that, the World Competitiveness Ranking 2024 also listed 5 challenges for Malaysia, namely:

• Increase investment in R&D to boost business resilience
• Optimise the labour market to maximise workforce productivity
• Update policies and regulations to improve global competitiveness
• Leverage advanced technologies to accelerate productivity growth
• Mitigate increasing costs through strategic productivity enhancements

So, what do you guys think of Malaysia’s placement in the rankings? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: Study: 68% of M’sians Believe Nation’s Economy is in Recession, 53% are Just Getting by Financially