(Eagle News) — The Philippines moved up the World Competitiveness Rankings this year, besting its Asian neighbors Indonesia and India, and European countries such as Russia and Italy.
From 42nd place in 2016, the Philippines is now in 41st place in the list made by the International Institute for Management Development based in Switzerland.
This year’s report included the results of 63 countries from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.
Indonesia climbed up six notches to settle in 42nd place this year, while India slipped four notches, from its 41st place in 2016.
Italy and Russia ranked lower in the competitiveness rankings this year–from 35th place last year to 44th, and from 44th to 46th, respectively.
Hong Kong continues to be the most competitive country of the 63 countries included in the report, followed by Switzerland and Singapore, which overtook the United States to take the third spot this year.
The US settled in fourth place this year instead.
The Netherlands took the fifth slot, up from its 8th place last year; Ireland, sixth from its seventh place; Denmark, seventh from the sixth slot last year; and Luxembourg eighth, from its eleventh slot previously.
Sweden slipped four notches to take the ninth place, while the United Arab Emirates improved its ranking to settle in tenth place, from its previous ranking of 15th.
It was the only Arab country to make it to the top 10 this year.
Two other Asian countries improved their performances this year—mainland China took the 18th spot from its 25th place last year, and Thailand moved up one notch to settle in 27th place.
Taiwan, Japan and the Korean Republic retained their previous rankings last year–14th, 26th and 29th, respectively.
Malaysia slipped five notches to settle in 24th place.
The best performer among the Latin American countries in the list was Chile, which moved up one notch to take the 35th slot.