Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Malaysia's Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) Minister stressed that Malaysia has significant potential to enhance productivity through the utilisation of artificial intelligence, potentially surpassing the benefits of digitalisation. AI's ability to simplify complex and mundane tasks can significantly boost productivity while fostering creativity and strategic thinking. Minister Zafrul emphasized that alongside AI, enhancing research and development (R&D) is crucial to increasing economic complexity. This would enable the production and delivery of competitive products and services, allowing companies and economies to participate in higher-value global chains.
"In R&D, process innovation is as important as product innovation and is critical to boosting productivity. Our competitors are catching up fast; we cannot afford to be unproductive," he said during the launch of the Productivity Report 2024 by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC). The text of his speech was read by MITI secretary-general Datuk Hairil Yahri Yaacob.
Minister Zafrul highlighted that technology, regulation, and talent are critical drivers of productivity, a key focus of the Productivity Report 2024. The report recommends that governments at all levels embrace good regulatory practice (GRP) and adopt an ease-of-doing-business mindset to minimize regulatory shocks and unpredictability. "Businesses must embrace modern management and technology to reduce fixed and marginal costs. At the same time, they must value and reward employees who continuously upskill or reskill, ensuring their competencies remain relevant in our rapidly evolving landscape," he stated.
Furthermore, Minister Zafrul stressed the importance of a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to address the multifaceted factors influencing competitiveness. This approach should include talent management, public service delivery, digitalisation improvements, and the management of both the domestic economy and international trade. Themed "Driving Malaysia’s Productivity,” the report noted that the country’s labor productivity per employee in 2023 showed a positive, albeit moderate, increase of 0.9 percent compared to the significant 5.4 percent jump in 2022.
