Hong Kong is the world’s second most competitive economy – second only to the US, according to a new report.
The territory was ranked fourth just last year by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook 2015.
The Financial Secretary, John C Tsang, said the IMD’s “high regard of Hong Kong” is welcomed.
“Hong Kong is highly competitive vis-à-vis most other economies in the world, especially in terms of government efficiency and business efficiency in which Hong Kong attains the top rank globally. This once again affirms the importance of our steadfast fiscal discipline, robust financial system, and favourable business environment.
“We will continue to consolidate Hong Kong’s institutional strengths and broaden the economic base on various fronts, and will strive to uphold our leading position as a key metropolitan city in the world,” said Tsang.
According to the yearbook, released  Wednesday, Hong Kong’s ranked second of  61 economies assessed on four competitiveness factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
Hong Kong’s rankings in government efficiency and business efficiency both improved to first place globally, up from second and third last year respectively. In infrastructure Hong Kong climbed six places to 15th.
However, as a highly open economy, Hong Kong’s economic growth slackened amid the unsteady global economic performance last year, resulting in a slight drop in the ranking in economic performance from seventh to ninth.