City trails first-place Singapore out of 70 economies surveyed by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenCannix YauPublished: 3:32pm, 18 Jun 2026Hong Kong has ranked as the second-most globally competitive economy – its best performance in seven years – climbing one spot from last year to place behind Singapore.
The ranking, released by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on Thursday, put the city ahead of 68 other economies out of 70 surveyed.
Hong Kong’s position was surpassed only by Singapore, but the city was ahead of Switzerland and Taiwan.
The IMD noted Hong Kong’s rise to second place was built on three consecutive years of improvement and “reinforced the dominance of Asian economies at the top of the ranking”.
The city’s overall performance marked a rebound from 2023 when it was ranked No 7, and matched its No 2 position in 2019. In 2017, it was ranked No 1 out of 63 economies.
The report said the city’s rise reflected sustained performance across the four competitiveness factors measured: government efficiency, infrastructure, economic performance, and business efficiency.
