Greater Bay Area globally competitive

The Greater Bay Area is getting more competitive at an international level, according to the Global Competitiveness Index, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The neighbouring SAR jumped three places in the ranking, placing 6th behind Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United States and first-ranked Switzerland.
China also rose in the rankings, from 28th to 27th, in the WEF’s 2017-2018 rankings, while Taiwan fell one place from last year’s results to 14th.
‘Hong Kong SAR (6th) has made the largest leap among the top 10 economies this year, moving ahead of Sweden (7th), the United Kingdom (8th), and Japan (9th),’ notes the report.
In particular ‘the world’s best physical infrastructure’, ‘healthy level of competition’ and ‘openness’, coupled with a ‘highly flexible and efficient’ labour market and its work in ‘slightly bringing down its inflation rate’ have resulted in its ‘most significant improvement’ – business sophistication and innovation, ‘which is a step in the right direction given that the business community consistency cites their insufficient capacity to innovate as one of the most problematic factors for doing business’.
The MSAR, as in previous editions of the report, did not appear in this year’s report.
Many of the problems identified by the report are the same as those that arise on Macau’s side of the delta. Insufficient capacity to innovate, inefficient government bureaucracy, inflation, inadequately educated workforce and restrictive labour regulations were the top five most problematic factors noted for the neighbouring SAR.
On a global perspective, ‘governments, businesses, and individuals are experiencing high levels of uncertainty as technology and geopolitical forces reshape the economic and political order that has underpinned international relations and economic policy for the past 25 years.
At the same time, the perception that current economic approaches do not serve people and societies well enough is gaining ground, prompting calls for new models of human-centric economic progress,’ observes Richard Samans, Head of Global Agenda and Member of the Managing Board of the WEF.