Indonesia’s ranking in the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness index dropped five places in 2019 to 50th out of 141 economies, while Singapore takes over the United States as the world’s most competitive country.

Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, scored 65 out of 100 in the competitiveness performance, a 0.3 point drop from the previous year, primarily as a result of a stagnating performance in variables that include “enabling environment”, “human capital”, “markets” and “innovation ecosystem”.

“It ranks fourth within ASEAN, behind Singapore [first], Malaysia [27th] and Thailand [40th],” reads The Global Competitiveness Report 2019, released on Wednesday. Singapore’s score increased 1.3 points to 84.4, taking over the top spot this year from the US, which saw its competitiveness score decline by two points to 83.7.

Poor digital and innovation competitiveness appeared to be undermining any progress as Indonesia’s score on ICT adoption, which is listed under the “enabling environment” variable, dropped six points to 55, positioning the country at 72nd on ICT adoption out of 141 economies. Indonesia’s score on innovation capability, which is listed under “innovation ecosystem”, stagnated at 38, the clear laggard of the country’s competitiveness.

Indonesia scored highest in macroeconomic stability (under the “enabling environment” variable) at 90, earning it the 54th rank, as well as market size and business dynamism. Indonesia’s market size scored 82, seventh of 141 economies in the survey, while business dynamism scored 70, earning the country the 29th spot.

“Indonesia boasts a vibrant business culture and a stable financial system – both of which are improvements over 2018—and a high rate of technology adoption, considering the country’s stage of development and that the quality of access remains relatively low. Innovation capacity remains limited, but is increasing,” the report states. (est)