Viet Nam has jumped up two ranks to 68th place among 144 economies worldwide, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15 which the World Economic Forum (WEF) released on Wednesday in Geneva.

In the Southeast Asian region, Viet Nam stands behind Singapore at second place, followed by Malaysia at the 20th, Thailand at the 31st, Indonesia at the 34th and the Philippines at the 52nd spot.

The country's inflation rate decreased to 6.6 per cent in 2013, contributing to the improvement of its macroeconomic environment which climbed up 12 ranks to 75th place.

Transportation, electricity and telephony infrastructure saw a slight improvement, climbing up one rank from 82nd spot in 2012 to 81st spot in 2013.

Two of the most remarkable points in the report were Viet Nam's labour market efficiency, which was at the 49th spot, and its market size, at the 34th spot.

In terms of technological readiness, the country jumped three ranks to 99th place, with 43.9 per cent of the population having access to the internet. In spite of the increase, local enterprises seem slow in adapting to new technologies in their business and production operations.

Viet Nam's banking and finance sector was found to be vulnerable as its financial market development took the 90th spot.

The number of researched economies in the annual report fell from 148 last year to 144 this year. Four countries were not listed in this year's report and placed lower than Viet Nam in 2013, particularly Ecuador, Bosnia Herzegovina, Liberia and Benin.

Switzerland topped the rankings for the sixth consecutive year, followed by Singapore and the United States, which jumped from fifth to third place, overtaking Finland at fourth and Germany at fifth.

The report also shows that the world's largest emerging market economies, such as Turkey, Brazil and India, continued to face difficulties in improving competitiveness. China remains the highest-ranked BRICS economy, going up one rank to 28th spot.

The report's competitiveness ranking is based on Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) scores, which are calculated by drawing together 12 categories of country-level data that collectively make up a comprehensive picture of a country's competitiveness.

The categories include institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment and health, as well as primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency and labour market efficiency. Also included are financial market development, technological readiness, market size and business sophistication and innovation.

VNS/VNN