Malaysian Government Ranked 2nd in ASEAN for Spending Efficiency, Netizens Disagree

Admittedly, not everyone will see eye to eye with how our government spends the taxpayer’s money. However, based on the latest report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), it seems that our beloved country is doing pretty well!

According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2017-2018, the Malaysian government was ranked 15th out of 137 countries for being efficient in spending money. If we just focus on the nine ASEAN countries, Malaysia would come in at second place!

Source: wef

In case you’re thinking about the credibility of the report, you should know that this study used 70 per cent survey data from the United Nations and 30 per cent data from 137 countries.

Here’s the 12 pillars of competitiveness that were taken into consideration.

1. Institutions
2. Infrastructure
3. Macroeconomic environment
4. Health and primary education
5. Higher education and training
6. Goods market efficiency
7. Labour market efficiency
8. Financial market development
9. Technological readiness
10. Market size
11. Business sophistication
12. Innovation

As expected, our neighbour, Singapore performed superbly on the index. The Singaporean government was so good at their finance management that the country was ranked second globally, and first in ASEAN for efficiency in government spending. Can’t say we’re surprised by that!

Source: time out

Although we didn’t top that category, Malaysians were delighted to find out that Malaysia was ranked:

• 3rd in the world for Malaysia’s strength in investor protection
• 5th in the world for its burden of government regulations

Another positive highlight is that Malaysia was ranked 23rd for overall global competitiveness, improving 2 spots from last year.

This study received mixed reactions from netizens after it was covered by mainstream media. Some reckoned that there’s no doubt the government has done a good job in bringing in foreign investors, but there’s still room for improvement in other aspects such as reducing corruption in the country.

On the other hand, some netizens questioned the credibility of the study done by WEF.

“The credibility of this report is indeed questionable when the finance ministry is led by the worst finance minister in Asia,” a Facebook user said.

“How is it efficient spending when the government spends money like water on overseas holiday using the government jet?” another netizen commented.

Do you think the report accurately describes the situation in our country? We’ll let you be the judge.

Also read: Malaysia Ranks Number 1 In The World For Having Best Healthcare