KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has jokingly "cautioned" that he will be forced to reshuffle his cabinet if the country fails to climb up the ranks in the World Competitiveness Report (WCR) next year.
Addressing the 47th American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting luncheon here today, Anwar said this was the only way to "save the prime minister".
"The WCR has highlighted our failure or the lack of determination to undertake several seemingly unpopular measures, but we did (address them).
"To my mind, that by itself addresses a major component of the criticism against the economic performance.
"I hope next year we will do much better in the report, Insya-Allah (God willing).
"Otherwise, I will be forced to make a minor reshuffle to the cabinet. That's the only way to save the prime minister," he said in jest.
Anwar was commenting on the WCR, which ranked Malaysia 34th out of 67 countries, dropping seven places from 27th last year.
The report said Malaysia needed to catch up in almost all assessed areas, including economic performance, government efficiency and business efficiency.
Last week, Anwar said the government had already addressed two issues raised in the report, namely matters concerning subsidy rationalisation and the ringgit.
"What's important is that we take into consideration the items raised in the report, (but) we also cannot deny that in the first quarter of this year, there has been progress in every aspect that was raised.
"In 2023, the harsh criticism was about our failure to implement targeted subsidies, but we have fixed that. This means part of the problem is resolved, or there is a positive outcome."
Earlier today, he explained in Parliament that the delay in implementing the subsidy rationalisation was among the reasons cited for Malaysia's decline in the 2024 WCR ranking.
"It was linked to our delay in implementing the rationalisation of subsidies, on our lack of firmness in the matter.
"Malaysia is criticised for not being stern enough with its expenditure matters. Despite our increasing expenditures and a ballooning deficit, we continue to approve additional allocations, such as Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah and Sumbangan Asas Rahmah," he said.