KUALA LUMUR: Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the real proof of the country's competitiveness is in the actual and continous inflow of investments into key target sectors.
He said this in a statement issued by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) to announce RM83.7 billion in approved investments for the January-March period.
Yesterday, Tengku Zafrul said that his ministry would provide an explanation for the drop in Malaysia's world competitiveness ranking to the 34th place from its 27th place last year.
"While we acknowledge the usefulness of short-term indicators of our business landscape, the real proof of Malaysia's competitiveness is in the actual, continuous inflow of investments into key target sectors outlined by National Industrial Master Plan 2030, including in high-growth industries such as semiconductors, data centres, renewable energy and electric vehicles," he said.
"This is why we will also continue to focus on longer-term industrial reforms and other strategic policy efforts to nurture a conducive investment ecosystem, to drive productivity as well as sustainable, inclusive growth that will pave the way for Malaysia to be one of the top 30 largest economies globally by 2033," Tengku Zafrul added.
The overall approved investments recorded a 13 per cent increase from the same period last year.
On Tuesday, International Institute for Management Development (IMD) said Malaysia was ranked 34th among 67 countries assessed in its World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR) report.
Malaysia was ranked fourth among Asean countries after Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.