government securities have swiftly recovered to 3. 9 % from a peak of 4. 5 % last november, post - us elections, reflecting higher confidence in the malaysian bond market. we are currently the largest bond market in asean in terms of percentage over gdp. the malaysian bond market continues to be resilient and well - functioning. non - resident holdings of malaysian bonds have settled at a lower level of 26 % compared to its peak of 34. 7 %. however, we have observed a more diversified and well - balanced non - resident investor base in recent months and our surveillance indicates that composition of medium to long - term investors is now much higher. the participation of a diverse spectrum of non - residents, including central banks and sovereign funds, is pivotal in providing a more stable and balanced two - way flows. malaysia is constantly in top 20 global competitiveness index. malaysia is the world ’ s 34th largest economy. we are also consistently ranked among the world ’ s most competitive economies. these are externally driven indexes and are independently researched. in the world bank doing business report, malaysia scored better than the average oecd high income nations in terms of legal rights and credit information. our protection of businesses are also stronger with faster and higher recovery rate in cases of insolvency. in terms of talent development, attraction and retention, malaysia has consistently ranked in the top 20 of the imd world talent report. within the region, malaysian talents stand out due to our diversity. a key attraction for investors in malaysia remains the english proficiency of our workforce. we have maintained a top 15 ranking in the ef english proficiency index for the last 6 years. many multinational companies based in malaysia have taken note of this cultural diversity. the familiarity of our people with the numerous languages spoken within asia, including mandarin, arabic, tamil, urdu and malay allows for malaysia to be a natural choice for regional business operations. the flourishing of our global business services industry illustrates this point. google has established its center of excellence in cyberjaya. this centre would showcase a range of google for work products such as google apps for work and google cloud platform. malaysia always subscribes to global best practice and standards. from national statistics to macroeconomic management, international organisations like the imf and world bank have long acknowledged malaysia ’ s adherence to international best standards. a quick word on the impact of global standards on the real economy. our adherence to international standards has extended to the quality of our products. from precision semiconductor

thing now, it is quite possibly, just the start to many more changes that we cannot even fathom now. against these changes, the ability to learn, unlearn and re - learn would be an indispensable requirement. there are many lessons to be learnt. one of these lessons is that we need to prepare society for jobs that do not yet exist. students of today can expect to hold more than 11 jobs between the ages of 18 and 42. that is more jobs than most of us have ever. with automation and artificial intelligence on the verge unleashing many possibilities, our value proposition is not knowledge, but cognitive skills. essentially, we need to teach our young on how to learn and adapt, not how to work. i am confident that malaysians as a whole are able to adapt to these changes, as we have proven on numerous times over the course of our short history. conclusion let me conclude. malaysia has evolved significantly in the last 60 years. our history has shown how malaysia has been an economy that is able to adapt to an evolving environment. we welcome business, we provide an opportunity to profit, and we are pragmatic and agile in our policies to protect the interest of all. with more than a hundred years of history between us, malaysia looks forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with both foreign and domestic investors alike. thank you. 6 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches