This year’s edition of the Global Competitiveness Report marks an important milestone, as the report series has now been published for 40 years. This edition sees the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 4.0 introduced.
The 2018 Global Competitiveness Report ranked 140 economies according to 12 pillars that were weighted equally.
These pillars were: institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labour market, financial system, market size, business dynamism and innovation capability.
For Southeast Asia, these are extracted facts from the whole report provided by World Economic Forum (WEF) this year:
The following countries took the top 10 spots on this year’s GCI 4.0.
- United States
- SINGAPORE
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Japan
- The Netherlands
- Hong Kong SAR
- United Kingdom
- Sweden
- Denmark
Other Key Highlights of the 2018 Report
• The report states that the global economy is projected to grow nearly 4 percent in 2018 and 2019.
• On the list of 140 economies, the United States topped the list with a score of 85.6, followed by Singapore and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively.
• Other countries in the top 10 include Switzerland (4th), Japan (5th), Netherlands (6th), Hong Kong (7th), United Kingdom (8th), Sweden (9th) and Denmark (10th).
• In Europe, Sweden is ranked the highest among the Nordic economies at 9th position, while France (17th) is among the top 20. Countries such as Germany and Switzerland set the global standards for innovation.
• Chile (33rd) leads the Latin America and the Caribbean region by a wide margin, ahead of Mexico (46th) and Uruguay (53rd). Insecurity and weak institutions are two of the biggest challenges for most countries in the region.
• Competitiveness performance in the Middle East and North Africa remains diverse, with Israel (20th) and the United Arab Emirates (27th), leading the way in their respective regions.
• 17of the 34 sub-Saharan African economies are among the bottom 20. Mauritius (49th) leads the region, ahead of South Africa and nearly 91 places ahead of Chad (140th).
• India remained the "South Asia's main driving force" with 58th rank.
• Among the BRICS economies, China topped the list at 28th place with a score of 72.6, followed by Russia, India, South Africa and Brazil respectively.
Source : World Economic Forum 2018 report, Business World and www.jagranjosh.com
