MALAYSIA TAKES 21ST SPOT IN WEF GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- The excellent functioning of the goods, labour and especially financial market, has earned Malaysia the 21st spot in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009.

The ranking surpasses even that of China and Thailand.

According to the report released in Geneva on Wednesday, Malaysia's labour
market was ranked 19th and the well functioning goods market came in at 23rd
based on its strong competition and business-friendly taxation.

"The financial market continues to perform well, having clearly recovered
well from the 1998 financial crisis.It is now ranked 16th internationally for
its sophistication marked by a sound banking sector and relative ease of access
to various forms of finance for business development," said the WEF.

The report also highlighted that Malaysia's strength included the quality
of
the country's transport infrastructure and strong business sophistication as
well as innovative potential, which has contributed greatly to the country's
growth over recent years.

On the other hand, the report also highlighted that efforts should be made
in the area of education, where attainment rates at the secondary level remained
low and to also adddress the realtively poor health of the workforce.

The WEF also said greater fiscal discipline would better ensure
sustainable macroeconomic stability going into the future, with repeated
deficits (ranked 109th), building up substantial government debt over the years.

In the report, the United States topped the overall ranking followed by
Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore.