We’re No. 1, again: Singapore named world’s most-competitive economy

Photo: Unsplash
Photo: Unsplash

A report by Swiss business school IMD (the International Institute for Management Development) has ranked Singapore the world’s most-competitive economy out of 63 countries, it’s first time atop the annual ranking in nine years.

Best airport, best passport, most-competitive economy … ah, it’s good to be the king.

Singapore leapfrogged the US and Hong Kong to earn the top spot, with the city-state’s rise attributed to its progressive technological infrastructure, highly-skilled workers, favorable immigration policies and innovations such as offering incentives to startups and small to medium-sized enterprises.

The city-state was also the only Asia-Pacific country to crack the top 10, with China finally making an appearance at number 14 overall.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, maintained its hold on the No. 2 slot thanks to its benign tax and business policies and easy access to international finance. The US dropped from first to third due to a loss in confidence the Swiss school attributed to the Trump tax cuts and a weakening in high-technology exports.

Begun in 1989, the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, assesses 63 economies on 235 indicators. These indicators include hard data such as unemployment levels and government expenditures on health as well as soft data drawn from surveys of international business executives on issues such as social cohesion and corruption.

Countries were judged in four primary categories: economic performance, infrastructure, government efficiency and business efficiency.

In general, the Asian-Pacific region fared particularly well this year, with 11 of 14 countries in the region either moving up or holding on to their rankings. Case in point? Indonesia, which surged 11 spots to the 32nd due to greater efficiency in government and improvements in infrastructure and business conditions.



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