Investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said he would lead the task force alongside second finance minister Amir Hamzah Azizan, with the aim of Malaysia being among the top 12 by 2033.
“We are aware that there are several areas in which we need to improve. Some of these are within our control and some are not, but it requires a whole-of-government approach,” he said in announcing the “report cards” of the finance and investment, trade and industry ministries today.
Tengku Zafrul said the task force would present detailed plans to the Cabinet to boost the nation’s competitiveness ranking after holding discussions with the relevant agencies.
Malaysia’s ranking fell seven places to 34th out of 67 countries in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking this year.
It also dropped four places to 10th out of 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, marking the first time it had ranked below Indonesia and Thailand.
Tengku Zafrul attributed the drop to the weakened ringgit, over-expenditure by the government due to the economic impact of the Ukraine-Russia war, and a reduction in high-technology exports.
However, the minister expressed optimism that all three factors would see improvements this year.
BRICS application process yet to start
Tengku Zafrul also said that Malaysia had yet to commence the process of applying to join the BRICS economic bloc.
“For now, not yet. But we are part of a team led by the foreign ministry that is looking into this,” he said.
Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia had indicated its interest in joining BRICS, with the formal procedures to begin “soon”.
Anwar also said Malaysia could become a “partner country” of BRICS before formally joining the economic bloc.
Formed in 2006, BRICS initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India and China, before it was joined by South Africa in 2011. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates formally became part of the group in January this year.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul announced that Malaysia’s total trade for the second quarter of 2024 reached RM1.396 trillion, marking an 8.4% year-on-year increase.
Exports rose by 3.9% to RM731.1 billion while imports surged by 13.8% to RM664.9 billion, he said.
He also said that domestic and foreign investments in the first quarter of the year were “encouraging”, with key projects in the manufacturing and services sectors, focusing on renewable energy, electric vehicles and chemicals, reflecting a robust investment climate.