KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 ― The development of measures to assess policies and initiatives’ achievement is crucial for the country in realising the Malaysia Madani goals, according to World Bank country manager for Malaysia Yasuhiko Matsuda.

He said the Madani Economy framework can make other plans introduced by the government more meaningful but opined that Malaysia is still lacking in public scrutiny of what has been done in the past, mainly with the public funds.

"At least (there are) 35 government entities at both federal and state levels with a total 101 programmes for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and I am not aware of any kind of rigorous evaluation as to whether these initiatives achieve their objectives.

"So there’s work to be done to make sure implementation happens, and the only way that we know is by looking at the implementation itself and evaluating the impact,” he said at the Youth Economic Forum 2023 today.

Under the Madani Economy, Malaysia aims to elevate its economy to be among the world's top 30 largest in less than 10 years from number 37 in 2022.

Besides positioning Malaysia as a top 30 major economy, the Madani Economy framework also sets six other medium-term benchmarks to be achieved within 10 years.

These include being in the top 12 in the Global Competitiveness Index, employees’ compensation to reach 45 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (the 12th Malaysia Plan’s target is 40 per cent by 2025), women’s participation in the workforce at 60 per cent, top 25 in the United Nations Human Development Index, top 25 best score in the Corruption Perception Index, and fiscal sustainability with the fiscal deficit being three per cent or less.

"A lot of the Madani elements are already in place at a much concrete level. So if the government can fully implement the plan or a chunk of the initiative, you will see a lot of progress along the way,” he noted. ― Bernama