Vietnam's global competitiveness ranking falls

Although its score is slightly higher than last year, Vietnam is ranked 60/138 economies evaluated by the World Economic Forum (WEF), compared to 56/140 in 2015.

This information was released in the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam ranked 6th, after Singapore (2nd), Malaysia (25th), Thailand (34th), Indonesia (41st) and the Philippines (57th). Except for Singapore, these countries all dropped in rank compared to last year.

WEF rates countries on a 7-point scale. Accordingly, Vietnam's Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) score this year is 4.31 - slightly higher than 4.3 last year (ranked 56 out of 140).

Among East Asian and Pacific economies, Vietnam's rate of improvement in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) over the past nine years has been slower than that of China and Cambodia.

The number of countries participating in this year's survey is 138, 2 less than last year.Despite the drop in ranking, WEF assessed that the general trend is that Vietnam is still improving its competitiveness. Previously, the positionVietnam's intelligence has continuously improved in the period 2012-2015.

The WEF's evaluation criteria are divided into three main groups, including: Basic requirements (macroeconomics, basic education - health, infrastructure, institutions); Performance enhancement factors (higher education and training, labor market efficiency, goods market efficiency, financial system development, technological level, market size) and sophistication - innovation factors (business system sophistication, innovation capability).

Among these three groups, Vietnam scored the highest in Basic Requirements, with 4.5 points, ranking 73rd. Some other criteria also improved, such as Institutions, Infrastructure, Technological Level or Higher Education and Training.

Globally, the top three positions this year remain unchanged, with Switzerland (5.81 points), Singapore (5.72) and the US (5.7) in the top 10. There are six European, three Asian and one American representatives in the top 10.

The emerging economies continued to show clear divergence. While India rose to 39th from 55th last year, China remained at 28th, Brazil slipped to 81st and Türkiye to 55th.

Vietnam has improved in Institutions, Infrastructure, Technology Level and Education. Photo: NYTimes

This year, the report finds that countries’ declining economic openness is threatening growth and prosperity. Monetary easing is not enough to sustain growth and countries need to reform their competitiveness. Updating business practices and investing in innovation are as important as infrastructure, skills and efficient markets.

"A less open global economy is hurting competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to maintain sustainable growth," concluded Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the WEF.

Competitiveness is defined as "the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine an economy's productivity and, in turn, its national prosperity". The Global Competitiveness Report is conducted annually, with the aim of drawing a comprehensive picture of the factors that drive competitiveness, productivity and prosperity in countries.

According to VNE