Singapore drops one spot on global competitiveness index, now ranked 4th

SINGAPORE: The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) published the 2023 World Competitiveness Ranking earlier this month, showing that Singapore has slipped by one spot and is now ranked fourth.

Singapore ranked first on the list in 2019 and 2020 before falling to fifth place in 2021. Last year, the city-state was ranked third.

Denmark has taken the pole position for the second year in a row, followed by Ireland and Switzerland, respectively. Following Singapore’s fourth-place ranking are the Netherlands (fifth), Taiwan (sixth), Hong Kong (seventh), Sweden (eighth), USA (ninth), and UAE (tenth).

Ireland’s jump from 11th in 2022 to second place this year is noteworthy.

The report says that the economies in the top four spots “make good use of their access to markets and trading partners.”

The criteria for evaluating each nation’s competitiveness may be broken down as follows: business efficiency, economic performance, government efficiency, and infrastructure.

This year’s results, evaluating a total of 64 economies, shine a light on how nations that were late to open up post-Covid-19 are beginning to see improvement, such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, even as countries that did the opposite by opening early, such as Sweden and Finland, are now seeing declines in competitiveness.

Smaller nations tend to rank higher on the list due to strong and efficient institutions.

“A country’s ability to generate prosperity for its people is a key determiner of success. It’s not what China does yet and it’s not what the US even does fully yet,” said Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD’s World Competitiveness Centre, which publishes the list.

Singapore ranked well in several categories, such as coming in second for international trade and employment and third in technological infrastructure. However, the city-state has ranked 51st in price, 23rd in management practices, and 26th in health and environment.

“Navigating today’s unpredictable environment requires agility and adaptability. Countries which excel are building resilient economies, such as Ireland, Iceland, and Bahrain. Their governments are also able to adapt policies based on current economic conditions in a timely fashion. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Singapore are also key examples of this,” says Christos Cabolis, the WCC’s Chief Economist. /TISG