S'pore moves up to 6th spot in WEF ranking

It climbs up a rung in competitiveness table, thanks to top-notch economic governance

SINGAPORE'S top-notch economic management has propelled the Republic one place higher to sixth spot in a closely watched ranking of global competitiveness conducted by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF).

Finland, which grabbed the top position from the United States two years ago, was No. 1 in the world again this year.

The US was No. 2 again, followed by Sweden and Denmark. Among Asian markets, only Taiwan did better than Singapore, coming in at No. 5. And one of Singapore's long-standing economic rivals, Hong Kong, slumped seven spots to 28th this year.

Singapore got a big lift this year from scoring No. 1 in the macroeconomic environment index rank, which looks at the way the overall economy and its institutions are run.

The WEF compiled the rankings based on hard data and a survey of nearly 11,000 business leaders in 117 economies.

Singapore came in tenth in the macroeconomic stability sub-index, but was No. 1 in terms of minimising government waste. In terms of its country credit rating, Singapore came in at No. 15.
The Republic scored highly in terms of the way its public institutions are run, coming in at fourth place. On the issue of the reliability of legal contracts and the legal system generally, it took fifth spot. In terms of a corruption-free environment, Singapore was third in the world, while in the area of technology, it did also well at No. 10.

A parallel business competitiveness index found Singapore to be in the fifth place, up from tenth position last year.

'The Nordic countries have consolidated their position at the top of the league,' said the WEF's chief economist, Mr Augusto Lopez-Claros. 'The main reason is these countries enjoy very good management. They do not have fiscal problems like France, Germany or Italy,' he told reporters. Faced with an ageing population, Nordic countries are reforming now in order to maintain their welfare systems, he said.

In Asia, after Taiwan and Singapore, the next Asian economy was Japan, which dropped three rungs to 12th position. This reflected Japan's relatively poor macroeconomic performance, particularly in terms of its management of public finances, said the WEF.

'Taiwan and Singapore are economies that, through sustained good policies over the past few decades, have lifted their citizens from poverty, joining the ranks of the most prosperous and competitive economies in the world,' the think-tank noted.

Meanwhile, China dropped three ranks to 49th place, while India moved up five places to 50th position.

Narendra Aggarwal
The Straits Times Interactive, 29 September 2005