KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's decline in the IMD's World Competitiveness Rankings 2024 is due to the weakness of the ringgit last year, according to Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

He explained that based on the ministry's preliminary study, the primary reason for the country's drop in the index from the 27th place in 2023 to the 34th spot in 2024 was the reliance on 2023 data to measure national competitiveness.

"(The report) was based on data from last year, 2023, compared to 2022, so there is a one-year lag. The factor that had the most significant impact is the stability of the ringgit, as highlighted in the rankings," he said after launching the Centralised Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) Solution at Bursa Malaysia today.



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