Malaysia currently ranks 27th on the index, having climbed five spots from 32nd in 2022. Zafrul said Malaysia had ranked among the top 10 in the 1990s, but that was mostly due to the fact that the country had a first-mover advantage over most of its regional peers. A decades-old policy favouring local players over foreign investors has dulled Malaysia’s competitive edge in recent years. Malaysia has started down a path of market liberalisation, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration seeks to bolster the country’s competitiveness to draw lucrative investments in the electric vehicle (EV) space and steer the economy towards a net-zero carbon future. Is Malaysia being too ambitious ?
