Singapore surpasses the US to become the world's most competitive economy

The Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD) has just released its annual ranking of the world's most competitive economies for 2019. This year, Singapore leads thanks to its advanced technology infrastructure, highly skilled labor, attractive immigration laws and ease of setting up a company.

Hong Kong (China) ranked second, with a favorable business and tax policy environment, and good access to finance. The US dropped two places from last year to third, due to waning confidence from this year's tax cuts and weaker high-tech exports. Venezuela remained at the bottom of the list.

Asia-Pacific economies performed quite well, with 11 out of 14 economies maintaining or improving their rankings.

Indonesia made the strongest improvement in the region, rising 11 places to 32nd globally, thanks to improvements in government performance, infrastructure and business conditions. Thailand rose five places to 25th, thanks to increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and productivity. Japan, on the other hand, fell five places due to slowing economic growth, high public debt and deteriorating business conditions.

In Europe, the UK fell from 20th to 23rd place due to Brexit uncertainty. Norway also dropped out of the top 10. Meanwhile, Switzerland's position improved, rising one place to remain the most competitive economy in Europe.

The IMD list has been published annually since 1989, evaluating 63 economies based on 235 indicators. In addition to hard data groups such as unemployment rate, economic growth and public spending on health and education, the report also evaluates soft data, taken from surveys with international business leaders on social cohesion, globalization or corruption. Economies are evaluated according to 4 large groups - Economic situation, Infrastructure, Government performance and Business performance. Vietnam is not included in the list of evaluated countries.