Hong Kong’s coming third in competitiveness index ‘down to civil service reform’

SCMP | June 17, 2025, 3:33 a.m. | Original

City leader John Lee has said the score reaffirms his earlier decision to reform the local civil service culture to be “results-oriented”. Photo: Sun Yeung

Hong Kong has been named the third-most globally competitive economy in the world, climbing two places from last year, with city leader John Lee Ka-chiu attributing the rise to enhanced government efficiency resulting from civil service reforms.

The chief executive said that Hong Kong had scored 99.2 out of 100 in the latest World Competitiveness Ranking, which was released by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on Tuesday.

The ranking put the city ahead of 66 other economies. Hong Kong’s overall score was only surpassed by Switzerland and Singapore.

“This is also the first time Hong Kong is back in the top three since 2019,” Lee said ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting.

The index surveys 69 places based on their economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure, each of which comprises five subcategories.

Lee noted the city was ranked first in terms of its tax policies and said he was “encouraged” that Hong Kong had come second in government efficiency, only being beaten by Switzerland .

This year’s index also saw Switzerland take the top spot from Singapore.

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