Malaysia came in 56th out of 165 nations in the most recent Economic Freedom of the World study by the Center for Market Education (CME).
The study, which CME and the Fraser Institute of Canada carried out, essentially assesses people’s capacity to make their own economic decisions across 165 jurisdictions.
It examines essential components such as the country’s size of government, its legal system and property rights security, access to sound money, international trade freedom, and credit, labor, and business regulation.
The report, which uses data from 2021 since there are international comparisons available, demonstrates Malaysia’s decline in recent years.
“The year before, in 2020, Malaysia ranked 53rd. The 2021 score thus represented a deterioration in Malaysia’s ranking, with the overall economic freedom rating for Malaysia dropping from 7.28 in 2020 to 7.19 in 2021,” said CME CEO Carmelo Ferlito.
He went on to say that the country’s performance should serve as a warning sign to policymakers about the country’s declining economic freedom.
He did, however, express optimism that the government’s recent Madani measures will encourage policies that will enhance Malaysia’s scores in the coming years.
“Thankfully, the Madani economy framework recently laid out by this government signals in part a commitment towards institutional reforms and pro-market policies like promoting free trade, improving ease of doing business, and rebuilding fiscal discipline.
“These should help improve Malaysia’s showing in future reports,” he said.
Singapore and Hong Kong maintained their domination at the top of the ranking, placing first and second, respectively.
Switzerland, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada completed the top 10.
In contrast, the countries at the bottom of the rankings were Congo, Algeria, Argentina, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe, with Venezuela at the top.