It is not an easy feat for an Asian and tiny place to keep up with the big leagues but Singapore has managed not only to stay in the game but also surpass and become the most competitive economy in the world. It has managed to dethrone former No 1 US, which has now slipped to the third position. Hong Kong has taken the second spot.
The data for this year’s World Competitiveness Ranking was released on Wednesday by Swiss business school IMD which showed that Singapore has got the top spot.
The rankings were decided by incorporating 235 indicators from all 63 ranked economies, including “hard” statistics such as unemployment, gross domestic product (GDP), and government expenditure on health and education, IMD said.
Other data which was taken into account was figures related to social cohesion, globalization and corruption. The countries were scored majorly in four categories – economic performance, infrastructure, government efficiency and business efficiency.
Singapore shows immense promise as it is ranked as the third place in the world for government efficiency, behind Hong Kong and UAE and ranked the fifth in economic performance and innovative businesses.
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While it was not one of the top five countries for effective infrastructure, it’s top placing was driven by “advanced technological infrastructure, the availability of skilled labour, favourable immigration laws, and efficient ways to set up new businesses,” IMD said.
11 out of 14 Asian countries on the list have either shown considerable improvement or maintained their rankings. China, Taiwan, and Malaysia took the 13th, 17th and 22nd spots respectively.
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In contrast, competitiveness in Europe economies “struggled to gain ground” as most of them either ranked the same and even lower than last year.
The United Kingdom fell three spots and ranked 23rd this year, perhaps due to the Brexit controversy.