Last week, 4 September 2014, the World Economic Forum released the 2014-2015 Global Competitiveness Report which ranks Thailand as world’s 31st most competitive economy, a 6-step improvement from previous year.
The report, which measures 144 economies around the world by their institution, infrastructure, macroeconomic environtment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation, puts Thailand at No. 10 in Asia, and 31 in the world.
This result is yet another cheer for Thailand, given the political uncertainties in the past year, after its ranking improved three years in succession from 39 to 38 and 37 in the last three years, respectively.
The major factor for such ranking hike, despite the political events in Thailand, is the strong macroeconomic environment, which rose by 12 points due to the diminishing inflation as well as the strict budgetary of the government and the high savings rate.
However, the report suggests that Thailand is still facing many challenges, most particularly in terms of the governance, with political uncertainty, corruption, protection of IPR, and confidence in politicians ranking among the lowest indicators. Education and technological readiness are also the two elements that need to be improved.
As far as the rankings among Asian economies are concerned, Thailand is ranked No. 10 after Singapore (No.1), Japan (No.6), Hong Kong (No.7), Taiwan (No.14), New Zealand (No.17). Malaysia (No.20), Australia (No.22), South Korea (No.26), and China (No.28).
Praphan Samphaiworakit
Reports from New Delhi
