Thailand ranks 10th most competitive economy in Asia-Pacific

Thailand’s competitiveness ranking fell to 32nd in the World Economic Forum’s 2015-16 index, and is only 10th among other economies in Asia-Pacific.

The most competitive economies in the Asia-Pacific region are holding steady in this year’s Global Competitiveness Index: five of the region’s top ten occupy exactly the same position as in last year’s overall Index, while two have dropped a single place and three have moved forwards.

It is worth noting that among Asean countries only Thailand (-1) and Indonesia (-3) are moving down the scale. Vietnam, probably Thailand’s main competitor for FDI, is moving up 12 ranks in 2015.

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In the lower reaches of the overall Index, too, more of the region’s economies are advancing than regressing – there are year-on-year advances for Lao PDR (83^rd of the 140 economies analysed), Cambodia (90^th), Nepal (100^th), Bangladesh (107^th) and Myanmar (131^st), with only Mongolia (104^th) and Bhutan (105^th) regressing.

South Asia still generally lags behind South East Asia, but Narendra Modi’s election has seen India leap forward a remarkable 16 places to 55^th overall.

Among emerging and developing Asian economies, the competitiveness trends are mostly positive, despite the many challenges and profound intra-regional disparities. While China and most of the South-East Asian countries performing well, the South Asian countries and Mongolia (104th) continue to lag behind.

The five largest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Malaysia (18th, up two), Thailand (32nd, down one), Indonesia (37th, down three), the Philippines (47th, up five) and Vietnam (56th, up 12) – all rank in the top half of the overall GCI rankings.

Having jumped six places in the last Index, Thailand drops a place to 32^ndoverall this year. It has improved in the last year on technological readiness, innovation and business sophistication but slipped on the macroeconomic environment pillar, reflecting a lower credit rating and worsening government budget balance.

Unsurprisingly, following the May 2014 coup, government instability tops the list of executives’ concerns – followed closely by three other institutional factors (corruption, government bureaucracy and policy instability), reflecting the country’s relatively low ranking on the institutions pillar.

Singapore. For the fifth year in a row, Singapore is both the top Asia-Pacific nation and second only to Switzerland in the overall rankings. With a consistently good performance – it ranks in the top two in seven out of the 12 pillars – the country’s strengths include the efficiency of its goods, labour, and financial markets, and its globally top-ranked higher education and training system.