 KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 ― Malaysia ranked 25th in the latest global survey measuring the ease of trade, trailing neighbouring Singapore that topped the list of 138 countries. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Enabling Trade Report 2014 released yesterday also showed Malaysia was ranked second within Asean, behind Singapore, but scored the best in the Developing Asia region, almost 30 places ahead of second-best China that ranked 54th overall. “In a region afflicted by red tape, corruption and lack of infrastructure, Malaysia is an outlier,” the report said. “The measures by Malaysia’s government to streamline and simplify regulations across its administration are having a positive impact on the efficiency of border administration. As a result, fees for exporting a container from Malaysia are the lowest in the world, according to the World Bank,” it added. The report pointed out, however, that the time and paperwork it takes to export remain “significantly higher” than Singapore, and that the entire process is tainted by corruption. Malaysia ranked a “remarkable” 14th for the availability and quality of transport infrastructure. “Maritime connectivity is among the world’s best (5th), far behind leading China, but almost on par with Hong Kong SAR (2nd), Singapore (3rd), and Korea (4th),” the report said. Malaysia, however, ranked 75th in terms of domestic market access, which was defined as the level and complexity of the country’s tariff protection as a result of its trade policy. The top five countries in the survey were Singapore, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand and Finland, while African countries like Nigeria and Zimbabwe were near the bottom. “Global trade hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, the Netherlands, the UAE and Taiwan, as well as certain export-led economies such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, typically do better than most of the other, more closed economies at a similar stage of development,” the report noted. “Common barriers to trade in the developing and emerging world include red tape at borders, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and low levels of security,” the WEF said in a statement yesterday. Overall, Malaysia scored 4.8 out of 7, compared to Singapore’s 5.9 score in the survey that assessed the performance of 138 economies in four areas: market access; border administration; infrastructure; and the operating environment. Seven trade-enabling factors in those four areas were measured: domestic market access; foreign market access; efficiency and transparency of border administration; availability and quality of transport infrastructure; availability and quality of transport services; availability and use of ICTs; and operating environment. The survey ― which measures the quality of policies, infrastructure and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders ― is published every two years.  MMail
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