KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Malaysia rose nine rungs to 15th place in the World Bank’s flagship Doing Business report for 2019, indicating a significant improvement of local conditions for starting and running businesses in the country.
The country was 24th in the previous edition of the annual series that is now in its 16th year. Singapore remains second overall, behind New Zealand.
The latest results are predicated on the country’s pursuit of reforms, although these predate the arrival of the Pakatan Harapan government; according to the report, its data was current up to May 1 whereas the new administration was voted in over a week later.
“A continuous and focused reform agenda keeps an economy competitive and vigilant, as others also keep improving. Two economies that enter the top 20 this year — the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia — have maintained such a reform momentum.
“Six reforms in Malaysia were measured by Doing Business, resulting in the second highest regional improvement in the ease of doing business score,” the World Bank said in the report.
Coincidentally, Malaysia and the UAE are intimately linked through the 1MDB corruption scandal.
In its section on Malaysia, the report commended the country’s efforts towards embracing digital transformation, which it said facilitated easier tax reporting, permit applications, power connections, cross-border trading, and resolution of insolvency issues.
On international trade, the addition of a second gate at Port Klang with supplementary scanning facilities, the expansion of two terminals, and a reduction in cut-off times were highlighted as contributors to the improved score.
The country fared particularly well in its protection of minority stakeholders, in which it was ranked second out of the 190 countries studied. Malaysia was also rated strongly for the simplicity in getting energy supply (4th) and the ease of dealing with permits (3rd).
However, the report found Malaysia to not have made significant headway in the ease of securing credit (32nd), contract enforcement (33rd), and tax payments (72nd).
Overall, the country improved its Ease of Doing Business score by 2.57 points to arrive at its current 80.60. The survey ranks countries on an aggregated score of 0 to 100, with higher marks indicating more conducive conditions for businesses while lower results demonstrate the opposite.
The report also comes just ahead of tomorrow’s tabling of Budget 2019, in which the government is expected to introduce measures to spur greater entrepreneurship among Malaysians.
“Governments have the enormous task of fostering an enabling environment for entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises,” World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said in the foreword to the report.
“Sound and efficient business regulation is critical for entrepreneurship and a thriving private sector. Without them, we have no chance to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity around the world.”
The World Bank has changed the methodology of the report since its inception and not all measures are directly comparable across all editions.
