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Business climate in Malaysia

Malaysia ranks #37 of 54 on the overall business climate (score 51). Its strongest suit is momentum, followed by red tape; the weakest is rule of law.

Momentum67 / 100Red tape57 / 100Cost of capital48 / 100Business taxes48 / 100Rule of law39 / 100
DriverScoreRankMeasures
Red tape and ease of doing business57 #37 of 54Days to start a business (Doing Business): 19 (2017); Procedures to start a business (Doing Business): 8.00 (2017); Ease of doing business rank (Doing Business, 1 = easiest of 190): 24 (2017)
Rule of law and legal certainty39 #42 of 54Liberal democracy (V-Dem): 0.36 (2025); Corruption perceptions score (higher = cleaner): 50 (2024); Strength of legal rights for borrowers and lenders: 8.00 (2017)
Taxes on business48 #34 of 53Corporate income tax rate (headline): 24 (2026); Total tax and contribution rate on commercial profits: 39 (2017)
Cost of capital48 #19 of 27Real interest rate: 5.30 (2025); Bank lending interest rate: 4.83 (2025)
Energy prices for business––no comparable figure yet
Growth momentum and investment trend67 #6 of 53Real GDP growth, average of the last five years: 5.23 (2025); Growth trend: last three years against 2015-2019: -0.32 (2025); Foreign direct investment, net inflows: 2.40 (2023)
2010: 7.4%102011: 5.3%112012: 5.5%122013: 4.7%132014: 6.0%142015: 5.1%152016: 4.5%162017: 5.8%172018: 4.8%182019: 4.4%192020: -5.5%202021: 3.3%212022: 9.0%222023: 3.5%232024: 5.1%242025: 5.2%25
Real GDP growth by year (World Bank). Green bars: growth; red: contraction.

Countries with a similar profile

Greece · Albania · Portugal · Poland

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Sources as on the business-climate table. Nestlyzer scores each measure 0–100 between the 5th and 95th percentile of the countries it covers. How the method works.