Found this articles in The Straits Times on 9 Oct 2008. According to the articles, in the annual survey released in the World Economic Forum(WEF) on 8 October 2008, few things has shown up :
1) The most competitive Asian economy, Japan, had dropped to ninth from eighth spot
2) Singapore overtook Japan, only last year, has climbed two notches to fifth place
3) Perennial business rival Hong Kong improved one place to 11th.
4) This annual ranking polled a record 12,297 business leaders in 134 economies.
5) Economies were assessed according to 12 "pillars" of competitiveness, ranging from infrastructure and macroeconomic stability, to business sophistication and innovation.
6) Singapore's improved ranking - strong institutional environment. strengthening all aspects of the institutional framework.
7) Singapore's best ranking - all economies :
a) Public trust of politicians
b) wastefulness of government spending
c) burden of government policymaking.
d) Top 2 countries - efficiency of all markets - goods,labour and financial.
e) Singapore has world-class infrastructure - its port and transport facilities.
f) Other indicators - Singapore also scored higher, such as higher education and training and technological readiness
The flipside, Singapore is constrained by :
a) its small domestic market,ranked 50th
b) Mixed performance in the macroeconomic stability pillar, interest rate spread and government debt - 12th
c) Inflation as one of the biggest bugbear for doing business in Singapore.
Other considerations in reading this survey, such as :
a) the survey was conducted between Jan and May this year, which means that the index does not reflect the worsening global crisis - US retained its position as 1st
However, the index aimed to take a longer-term view. US is endorsed with many structural features, strong footing for business cycle shifts and economic shocks. On that basis, the US ranking was still justifiable.
b) Northern European countries, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, rounding off an unchanged top listing.
