HA NOI (FIA) — Viet Nam jumped 12 steps forward to 56th place in the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Global Competitive Index (GCI) 2015-2016 Rankings, WEF's recently released Global Competitiveness Report noted.

The WEF report assessed the competitiveness of 140 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.

This year's edition found a correlation between highly competitive countries and those that have either withstood the global economic crisis or made a swift recovery from it.

First place in the GCI rankings, for the seventh consecutive year, goes to Switzerland, followed by Singapore and the United States.

Viet Nam is among the five largest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that rank in the top half of the overall GCI rankings, with Malaysia in 18th place; Thailand, 32nd; Indonesia, 37th; and the Philippines, 47th.

The GCI was introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2004.

The rankings based on the index consider 12 pillars of competitiveness, including institutions, appropriate infrastructure, a stable macroeconomic framework and good health and primary education. Also included are higher education and training, efficient goods markets, efficient labor markets and developed financial markets. Rounding off the list are the ability to harness the benefits of existing technologies; the market size, both domestic and international; the production of new, different goods using the most sophisticated manufacturing processes; and innovation. — VNS