The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Business School released the "World Competitiveness Report 2019" on the 28th, indicating that Singapore has risen two times and has become the most competitive economy in the world after 2010.
The United States dropped its top position to third place; Hong Kong's competitiveness remained second.
[Classification evaluation]
The IMD Business School is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 1989, it has evaluated the annual competitiveness of each economy with 235 indicators in four categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. 63 countries and regions participated in this year's ranking.
IMD Business School judged that Singapore has topped this year thanks to its advanced technology infrastructure, skilled technical labor pool, a rule of law environment that is friendly to immigrants, and an effective way to start a business. Hong Kong, China maintains competitive vitality due to its good tax and business environment and convenient corporate financing.
The weakening of the competitiveness of the United States as the world's number one economy is mainly due to the gradual decline of the government's tax-reduction policy's boosting effect on market confidence and the negative impact of rising fuel prices, weakening exports of high-tech products and fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate.
However, the United States ranks first in the basic strength categories needed to measure companies such as technology, research, and human resources.
According to Arturo Bress, a professor at the IMD Business School who presided over the rankings, “The rapid changes in the international political environment and trade relations have caused the global market to encounter high levels of uncertainty this year.” “Strong institutional framework can provide stability for corporate investment innovation. ".
[Asia Pacific Outstanding]
The Asia-Pacific economies have performed particularly well this year. Outside Singapore and Hong Kong, the competitiveness rankings of nine other countries and regions remain unchanged or improved.
Among them, the Indonesian ranking increased by eleven, mainly due to the improvement of government efficiency, infrastructure and business environment. Indonesia is the economy with the lowest labor costs in all 63 countries and regions. Japan's ranking fell by five to 30, mainly due to weak economic growth, high government debt and weak business environment. Thailand is driven by foreign direct investment and productivity, and is in a position to swap with Japan.
In the Middle East, the world's major crude oil suppliers, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, performed well. Saudi Arabia has jumped 13 places due to strong investment in education and has made the most progress in all economies. The UAE entered the top five for the first time, and Qatar re-entered the top ten after 2013. Israel, Turkey and Jordan did not perform well.
In Europe, the uncertainty in exiting the European Union continued, and the UK ranking slipped from the twentieth to the twenty-third. Norway and Luxembourg fell out of the top ten, while Denmark and the Netherlands ranked slightly lower, but retained the top ten. Switzerland is the highest ranked European economy, ranking fourth in the world, while Ireland is rising five to seven. France and Germany fell in the rankings.
In other regions, North American countries fell three to thirteenth, and Latin American economies failed to enter the top three.