KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 — Malaysia continues to lead in the Global Islamic Economy Indicator (GIEI) this year, the highest accomplishment among the seven Top Five positions it achieved, according to the seventh State of the Global Islamic Economy Report (SGIE) 2019/20.

The report is published by DinarStandard in partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), SalaamGateway.com, and Dubai Islamic Economy Development Center (DIEDC), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDEC) said in a statement today.

"The comprehensive annual study focuses solely on the continued global growth of the Islamic economy, encompassing halal products, Islamic finance and related lifestyle sectors,” it said.

Its chief executive officer, Surina Shukri said Malaysia continues to lead and drives forward the development of Islamic finance, especially the Islamic digital economy.

"Beyond topping the GIEI for this year, other accolades include obtaining third place for Muslim digital commerce spending in 2014, investing an estimated US$521 billion and producing 394 prominent consumer-facing digital Islamic services, as per the Digital Islamic Economy Report 2015 produced by Thomson Reuters in collaboration with DinarStandard.

"These efforts also include bringing together industry players, such as capital drivers, venture builders/accelerators, and Shariah advisors to proactively engage and contribute towards the development of Malaysia’s Islamic digital economy,” she said.

From a government standpoint, Surina said MDEC is also actively engaged with regulators like the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia to ensure that there is a collective commitment to these efforts.

"As the Islamic economy and digital economy are Key Economic Growth Areas (KEGA) 1 and 2 of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030, we must double down on efforts to accelerate growth of Malaysia’s Islamic digital economy.

"Of course, this is in line with our aspirations to make the country the Heart of Digital Asean,” she said. — Bernama