Korea Ranks 19th in GDP Potential

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on January 29 that Korea’s potential competitiveness ranks 19th in the world.

The report is based on the findings of the Japan Center for Economic Research, which conducted a potential competitiveness comparison of 50 countries in 2006.

Potential competitiveness is a quantitative figure showing how much per-capita GDP might grow over the next decade. The center ranked the countries based upon an analysis of eight major indices, including science and technology, companies, education, and government.

First place went to Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, the U.S., and Switzerland, which was the same ranking as last year. Belgium went up from eleventh to fifth, while the Netherlands went up from eighth to sixth by two ranks. The U.K. ranked seventh followed by Sweden, Germany and Canada.

Japan jumped from fifteenth to twelfth, showing the continued recovery of the Japanese economy, which has been jump-started by an increase in private consumption.

sya@donga.com