HK ranked world's third most competitive economy

Hong Kong's scores for judicial independence and press freedom are both down on last year. Image: Shutterstock

Richard Pyne reports

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Hong Kong as the third most competitive economy in the world, up four places from last year, but with falling marks for judicial independence and press freedom.



The SAR's overall score rose 0.8 points from 2018 in the WEF's latest Global Competitiveness Index, which ranks economies according to 103 indicators across a dozen categories.



Hong Kong's scored highest of any economy in four categories – more than any other place – and it featured in the top 10 of eight categories. It scored the maximum 100 points in "macroeconomic stability" and "health".



Those scores were enough to lift the SAR into third place overall, behind Singapore in top spot, and the United States in second.



Hong Kong's score on the "judicial independence" indicator was enough to secure 8th out of the 141 economies – the same spot as last year. But the score was down slightly, dropping 1.5 points.



The score for "freedom of the press" was also down, by 0.6 points, putting the SAR at 61st in the world, down from 57th a year ago.



The index said Hong Kong's biggest weakness was "undoubtedly" its limited capability to innovate, while it was also penalised for a shortage of protections for workers' rights.



Elsewhere, Taiwan moved up one spot in the overall rankings to 12th, while the mainland held steady at 28th.