KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that Malaysia’s ranking in the Bloomberg Innovation Index 2016 was yet another proof that policies and economic plans implemented by the Barisan Nasional government were right on target and had achieved the desired results.

The prime minister said the government would double efforts to spearhead the country towards people-based development. “Malaysia ranked 23rd out of 50 companies surveyed, ahead of its more developed regional peers.

“Malaysia moved up two notches compared with 2015 when it ranked 25th. This is very encouraging and we should be proud of this achievement especially when other advanced nations declined in their rankings,” he said via a Facebook posting today.

Compared with its regional peers, Malaysia is ranked ahead of Hong Kong (ranked 37) and Thailand (47).

Malaysia’s strength in the index is attributed to the relatively high proportion of manufacturing sector contribution to the economy compared with other countries which were more value-add services driven.

– BERNAMA