Singapore ranked third most globalized economy

Guess which country topped the list and beat Singapore?

According to a release, Singapore ranks third after Hong Kong and Ireland on Ernst & Young’s Globalization Index 2011, which measures the world’s 60 largest economies according to their degree of globalization relative to their GDP. The overall rank for Singapore remains the same as last year.

The Globalization Index, which was released by Ernst & Young in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and covers the period from 1995 to 2015, has five criteria: openness to trade, capital movements, exchange of technology and ideas, labor movements and cultural integration. Each of the criteria’s weighting was validated by the business leaders surveyed. The index measures the relative level of global engagement of a country. It does not measure the absolute or relative impact a country has on global commerce or the global economy.

Singapore scores the highest – a perfect score of 10.00 – in terms of openness to trade. It has yet again consolidated its position as the economy most open to the movement of goods and services, excelling particularly for cross-border trading. The country saw an improvement in score for cultural integration (6.94), but reduced scores for capital movements (6.17), technology (6.54) and movement of labor (4.37) compared to last year.

Max Loh, Country Managing Partner, Ernst & Young LLP says: “While the slump in net migration rate has dampened our score for movement of labor last year, Singapore’s business environment continues to be among the most attractive in the world. The increasing number of bilateral free-trade agreements that Singapore is negotiating, coupled with the country’s pivotal geographical location as the gateway to the region, are strengths that sustain our appeal as a choice destination for foreign direct investments in Asia.”

“Also, Singapore is already one of the most technologically advanced countries. The further upgrades to our telecommunications infrastructure through the full delivery of the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network will reaffirm our position as an info-communications hub, and open new doors to economic opportunities and social vibrancy,” he added.