http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/225591/1/.html
SINGAPORE : Singapore has been ranked the third most
competitive economy in Asia, behind Hong Kong and
Taiwan.
That is according to a survey conducted by the Institute of Policy
Studies (IPS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
And among ASEAN member countries, Singapore topped the list - ahead
of Malaysia and Thailand.
But experts warn that Singapore must keep a close eye on costs and
focus on expanding its services sector - or risk falling
behind.
The IPS-NTU competitiveness survey covers four main areas and takes
into account 79 sites - the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, 34 Chinese cities and 35 Indian states.
While Singapore shone in the key assessment areas of government,
institutions, social and economic environment, it lagged as far as
business costs were concerned.
Experts say that Singapore should look to its services sector to
derive greater value-added growth as competition from Chinese
cities such as Guangdong and Shanghai was intensifying.
Tan Khee Giap, Associate Professor, NTU, said, "Our potential
competitors are Hong Kong, Taiwan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu,
Shanghai, (and) Beijing. These are the big cities and provinces in
China. But in the ASEAN 10, we lead almost in every category,
including government, institutions, economic environment and social
environment.
"But when it comes to business environment, we are equal to
Malaysia and the point I want to make is that we cannot cut our
wages to match Malaysia. Our competitiveness is not in cutting
wages.
"We can move up the manufacturing ladder, but there is an extent
that we can do and in the longer term, I still think services will
give Singapore the biggest spin-off where our standard of living
can be maintained."
In the ASEAN category, Malaysia and Thailand came in second and
third respectively, but it was Vietnam which surprised, by beating
Philippines and Indonesia to the 4th place.
According to the World Bank, which sponsored part of the survey,
the gap was starting to narrow.
Peter Stephens, Singapore Representative, World Bank, said, "...the
role of innovation and creativity and entrepreneurship going
forward...these are areas that the government focuses heavily on
and that there is a lot of discussion on. And for Singapore to
continue to lead the pack and be the successful and prosperous
economy that it is, these are areas where there is going to need to
be increased attention."
Among Indian states, Maharashtra was ranked 8th in the government
and institutions segment. - CNA/ms
