KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): Malaysia needs to move from input-driven growth to productivity-driven growth to achieve sustainable economic growth path, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The country's growth, he noted, had been predominantly input-driven through the injection of capital and labour into the economy.

“The cost-minimising type of growth is becoming more difficult to sustain. Every unit of input injected into the economy is yielding less Gross Domestic Product growth compared with the past,” he said in his speech at the Industry Excellence Awards 2018 here today.

To shift to productivity-driven growth, the Prime Minister said, companies should invest in research and development in order to enhance innovation and identify new high value-added products and services.

There is also a need to up-skill the labour force and equip them with the latest knowledge and technology, he said.

"These concerted efforts are vital to improve labour productivity performance in order to become a developed and inclusive nation. We need to break away from our conventional ‘business as usual’ practices and instead set the country on an accelerated growth trajectory,” Dr Mahathir said.

Besides achieving productivity improvements, the Prime Minister cited three other priority areas in which the Government had intensified efforts.

They are increasing export capacity to enhance internalisation, improving market efficiency to promote fair competition, and facilitating ease of doing business to improve the business climate.

Organised by the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Industry Excellence Awards is aimed at recognising the outstanding companies in Malaysia which have achieved a certain level of excellence in products and services.

Tonight's event was also attended by both MITI minister Datuk Darell Leiking and his deputy Dr Ong Kian Ming.

The award was presented to eight companies, including Ideal Healthcare Sdn Bhd, Indkom Engineering Sdn Bhd, Excelvite Sdn Bhd, Cita Information Systems Sdn Bhd, Amalgamated Plant Engineering Sdn Bhd, KPJ Ipoh Specialist Hospital and STMicroelectronics Sdn Bhd.

KPJ Ipoh Specialist Hospital, meanwhile, clinched the Prime Minister’s Award.