Small step up in competitiveness ranks

Thailand’s world competitiveness ranking edged up one spot this year, helped by improvements in the economy and institutional framework.

According to the latest edition from the World Competitiveness Center, a research group at IMD business school in Switzerland, Thailand’s ranking rose to 27th from 28th in 2016.

Arturo Bris, director of the World Competitiveness Center, said that while Thailand’s rise in the rankings may seem insignificant, it’s worth mentioning the better performance of the Thai economy and improvements in adaptability of government, central bank policy and effectiveness of government decisions.

Infrastructure, health and education persist as weaknesses of the economy, Mr Bris said.

The IMD World Competitiveness rankings, published annually since 1989, put Hong Kong in the top spot for the second year running.

Singapore, which was fourth last year, overtook the US for third place. The US’s No.4 ranking was its lowest in five years.

In the separate IMD Digital Competitiveness rankings, a new report for 2017, Thailand ranked No.41.

The top 10 in the first Digital Competitiveness rankings were Singapore, Sweden, the US, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Canada and Norway.

The report measures an economy’s ability to adopt and explore digital technologies in government, business and society in general.

According to Mr Bris, the new Digital Competitiveness rankings show that Thailand enjoys a good digital infrastructure and regulatory framework to aid the digital transformation of companies.

But at the individual level, IMD sees less of a willingness to adapt to new technology, noting a lack of integration of IT infrastructure into the day-to-day life of citizens, Mr Bris said.