Singapore has overtaken the United States as the world’s most competitive economy in 2019.
The Asian city-state pushed the world’s largest economy down to second place this year, scoring top marks for its infrastructure, health, labor market and financial system.
However, the United States remains as the leading innovation powerhouse, ranking 1st on the business dynamism pillar, 2nd on innovation capability, and 1st for finding skilled employees.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2019, Singapore overtook the United States with a score of 84.8 (+1.3). Hong Kong SAR (3rd), Netherlands (4th) and Switzerland (5th) round up the top five.
Some of this year’s better performers appear to be benefiting from global trade tensions through trade diversion, including Singapore (1st) and Viet Nam (67th), the most improved country in 2019.
The report noted that the two Asian economies “appear to be benefiting from global trade tensions through trade diversion.”
Singapore slashed its forecast for GDP growth in August, after reporting a big drop in economic activity in the second quarter of this year. It’s heading for its weakest annual growth since the 2009 global financial crisis.
The report further states Asia-Pacific is the most competitive region in the world, followed closely by Europe and North America.
