Wilson Perumal and Company has put Malaysia in “Group 2” of their Global Markets Complexity Index (GMCI) – putting the country in the same group along with South Korea, Belgium, Spain and Ireland.

In their recent report, the strategic consulting company said that Malaysia, like other “Utility Players” had low complexities in three measures – market, operational and regulatory

“The GMCI Utility Players are wealthy countries with generally low complexity across the board, but have aspects of market, operational and regulatory complexity that make them slightly more challenging than the MVPs,” it said, referring to countries in Group 1 which were considered “Most Valuable Players”.

Nations in Asia grouped in the MVP list include Japan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong which was separately ranked from China.

The report said that Utility Players are near the top of the pack, but companies operating in these countries were experiencing high levels of “regulatory friction”.

“In most cases, the friction is the result of government policies put into place to provide stability for workers, but which impacts the ease with which the companies can do business,” it said.

Malaysia was also reviewed as a “less obvious option for expansion with the complexity management capabilities” of France.