Out of 127 countries, Malaysia has been ranked 32nd in this year’s International Property Rights Index (IPRI), down six notches from last year, reported Malay Mail Online.
With its overall score falling to 6.61 out of 10, Malaysia is also listed seventh out of 19 within the Asian and Oceania regions.
Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), described the latest score as disconcerting since Malaysia is now “clustered” among countries such as Rwanda and Panama.
“In fact among all countries which were evaluated, Malaysia is one of the only three countries whose sub-indices scores actually decreased.”
Wan Saiful noted that the country’s score in the legal and political environment category fell to 5.81, while its physical property rights score and intellectual property rights score decreased to 7.59 and 6.43 respectively.
“As intellectual and physical property rights ensure that businesses have stability, which is important for long term growth, this is a worrying development,” he said.
“This sends a clear need for consistent and sustained commitment to ensuring the strengthening of property right protections.”
Notably, this year’s IPRI showed that world property rights average increased by 3.45 percent to 5.63 percent, with New Zealand topping the list.
Only two Asian countries – Singapore and Japan – made it to the top ten list, with a score of 8.36 and 8.32 respectively.
Image sourced from Malay Mail
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