KUALA LUMPUR: The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) has urged businesses and Malaysians in general to share the burden of making Malaysia more competitive following the country's drop in the latest International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Ranking.

Samenta president William Ng said from the breakdown in declining sub-factors, it is clear that the government cannot be blamed completely for the drop.

He said the government could not bear complete blame for the drop in ranking, which is attributed to a low gross domestic product (GDP) growth per capita due to the rapid increase in unskilled and semi-skilled foreign workers in 2023 at a time when Malaysia's GDP growth was hammered by war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East.

He said Malaysia had dropped significantly in five of the 20 sub-factors that provide equal weightage to the ranking: domestic economy, productivity and efficiency, technological infrastructure, management practices, and attitudes and values.

"(The sharp rise in unskilled and semi-skilled foreign worker numbers came) at a time when our GDP growth was hammered both by the war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East.

"This in turn also impacted our performance in the productivity and efficiency sub-factor, as the ranking took into consideration growth in productivity in various sectors each year," he said in a statement today.

The ranking had placed the said sub-factor at 53rd, down by 17 places from 37th in 2023.

Ng said businesses, including SMEs, must quickly cut their reliance on unskilled and low-skilled foreign workers and government procurement and handouts, urging them to adopt artificial intelligence and digitalisation tools, among others.

Ng said Malaysians and businesses need to adopt the mantra that 'what is good for business, is good for the country' - as the reality post-pandemic is that the welfare of citizens anywhere in the world, is tied to the prosperity of the country.

"When our businesses and the economy do well, Malaysia will be able to earn more for our coffers, build better roads, upgrade our schools and provide better security and comfort to all Malaysians," he added.

In the ranking released last Tuesday, Malaysia dropped seven places to 34th out of 67 countries.

It also fell four places to 10th out of 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, marking the first time it has ranked below Indonesia and Thailand.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/economy/2024/06/1068253/businesses-public-must-share-burden-making-malaysia-more