Indonesia economic competitiveness improving

VIENNA - INDONESIA, among the Group of 20 (G-20) countries, has made the most progress in terms of competitiveness in recent years, but major challenges remain, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday.
In the WEF's first-ever Indonesia Competitiveness Report, released ahead of the 20th World Economic Forum on East Asia in Jakarta this weekend, the organisation found that Indonesia showed the strongest progress among the G-20.
'Indonesia ranks 44th among 139 economies in the Global Competitiveness Index or GCI ranking,' the report said.
Since 2005, it had progressed in each of 12 categories of the index and 'now compares favourably' with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
Within the Asean group of countries, while Indonesia was still well behind Singapore and Malaysia, it was at par with Thailand and Vietnan, but 'far ahead' of the Philippines and Cambodia.
'From an economic standpoint, Indonesia has done remarkably well in the past decade and has proven very resilient during the global economic crisis,' WEF economist and the report's author, Thierry Geiger, said. 'These positive developments are, to a large extent, reflected in the country's competitiveness performance. Indonesia should not be complacent, though. Many shortcomings persist and robust growth might exacerbate them,' Mr Geiger said. -- AFP

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