Indonesia is ranked 50th on the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness scale, the highest it has ever scored.

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual “Global Competitiveness Report”, for 2006-07, will be formally released on 27th September however the rankings contained within it are already known, with Indonesia ranked at 50th best out of 125 countries. See comparison with previous years’ results.

• 2006 – 50th of 125
• 2005 – 74th of 117
• 2004 – 69th of 104
• 2003 – 72nd of 101

Tulus Tambunan, of Kadin Indonesia, says that the results for Indonesia are based on research done in the country in 2005, research that was conducted by questioning the heads of 123 companies. 77 other companies did not return the questionaire.

Tulus Tambunan says that it can be gleaned from the report that businessmen in Indonesia are most dissatisfied with the infrastructure situation, with 20% of respondents complaining about the state of roads, transport, railway networks, as well as telecommunications and electricity facilities.

Other complaints voiced were of the trouble of dealing with an inefficient government bureaucracy and inconsistent government policies, particularly in the area of taxation.

Of Indonesia’s peers in the region Malaysia is ranked 26th and Thailand 35th. The top ten is so:

1. Switzerland
2. Finland
3. Sweden
4. Denmark
5. Singapore
6. United States
7. Japan
8. Germany
9. Netherlands
10. UK