KUALA LUMPUR: Unity government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil will leave it to the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry to explain the drop in Malaysia's position in the World Competitiveness Ranking released by the International Institute for Management Development today.
He said Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz informed him that he would address the matter.
"Give the MITI team a little time to study what it means and what happened.
"In reality, this year we have seen very high investments, especially in the semiconductor sector, data centres and artificial intelligence.
"We should leave it to MITI to provide a more comprehensive answer," he said at a press conference after the launch of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's (MCMC) 'Microsoft AI Teach: Skills for AI-enabled Economy' programme and the exchange of memorandum of understanding between MCMC and Microsoft Malaysia.
Earlier, Tengku Zafrul said he would address the ranking report today.
He said his ministry had received the report and was reviewing it.
"I will discuss it with the team and all relevant parties. I will provide a detailed explanation on the matter this evening," he said after the announcement on Malaysia's participation in the World Expo 2025 in Yumeshima island, Osaka, Japan.
In the ranking report, Malaysia ranked 34th out of 67 countries in the 2024 World Competitiveness Ranking, dropping seven places from 27th place last year. ()
The report ranked Malaysia fourth among Asean countries after Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
Singapore was ranked the most competitive economy in the world, climbing four places from the previous year to surpass Switzerland in second place.
The report said Malaysia needed to catch up in almost all assessed areas, including economic performance, government efficiency and business efficiency.