International research institute IMD has once again released its annual report titled the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2026. One of the main indicators in the spotlight for measuring macroeconomic competitiveness is the Business Efficiency pillar. This parameter evaluates the effectiveness of the national environment in encouraging businesses to operate innovatively, profitably, and responsibly toward social and environmental aspects.
On a Southeast Asian regional scale, competitive dynamics show a fairly wide gap between member countries. Singapore solidifies its dominance in first place globally with a perfect score of 100.00. This achievement confirms Singapore's status as having the most efficient corporate ecosystem in the world. Following at the regional level, Malaysia is ranked 16th globally (score of 75.38), followed by Vietnam in 19th place (score of 70.58), Thailand in 21st (score of 67.33), and the Philippines in 30th place globally.
Conversely, a less-than-satisfactory report card must be accepted by Indonesia, which slumped to the bottom position in the ASEAN region. Globally, Indonesia was only able to rank 50th with a score of 40.91. This result serves as a loud alarm for policy makers and domestic business actors. Structural improvements are urgently needed, particularly in labor productivity, ease of access to financing, and the modernization of corporate governance to be able to compete on the global stage.
The assessment in this competitiveness index is based on a comprehensive methodology that combines two main data sources. Two-thirds of the assessment refers to objective statistical data such as economic growth and inflation, while the remaining third is obtained through perception surveys of business actors regarding the real investment climate on the ground. This final assessment covers four major pillars: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure quality.
