Amid expectations that Malaysia may be facing troubled economic times, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak reminded Malaysians that it is not all doom and gloom in the country.
"The opposition and the critics of the government are painting a bleak scenario that Malaysia is on the verge of bankruptcy and that Malaysia is amongst the ranks of the failed states.
"In short, there is only bad news and no good news in Malaysia," he said in a blog posting today.
However, Salleh said the World Bank's report Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency said otherwise.
"(It said) that Malaysia continues to rank among the top 20 economies worldwide and first among emerging economies in East Asia for ease of doing business.
"In fact, Malaysia, which the year before ranked 20th globally, now ranks 18th," he said.
Furthermore, he said the report showed since 2005, Malaysia had improved its business regulatory framework through several reforms and narrowed the gap with international best practices.
The report was published in October last year.
Economic outlook remains favourable
Salleh added that in April this year, World Bank also had a favourable view of Malaysia's economy.
"Malaysia’s near-term economic outlook remains overall favourable, said the World Bank, despite some risks.
"The economy has diversified from commodities and the government has taken steps to broaden the revenue base.
"Short-term risks include further declines in oil prices and volatility in capital flows from the normalisation of US monetary policy," he said.
Malaysia is facing economic uncertainty as investors withdraw over political uncertainty in the country.
This followed reports in July that RM2.6 billion was deposited into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's ( photo ) personal bank accounts which was later confirmed to be true.
The deposits have led to investigations and apparent attempts to scuttle them as well as an internal struggle in Umno.
Najib had insisted the money was a political donation and had no elements of corruption.
The economic uncertainty is further aggravated by falling commodity prices and economic developments in China and the US.
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