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The declining competitiveness of Hong Kong stems from social injustice

2021-06-23T00:04:36.436Z


The International Management Development Institute announced on Thursday (17th) the latest issue of the World Competitiveness Annual Report (Annual Report) for 2021, and Hong Kong's ranking dropped from fifth last year to seventh. Although this ranking is still the Asia-Pacific region


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Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2021-06-19 07:00

Last update date: 2021-06-19 07:00

The International Management Development Institute announced on Thursday (17th) the latest issue of the World Competitiveness Annual Report (Annual Report) for 2021, and Hong Kong's ranking dropped from fifth last year to seventh.

Although this ranking is still second in the Asia-Pacific region, the Hong Kong government should not be complacent. On the contrary, it must try to solve various social problems. Internally, it must create a livable city for the citizens, and it must continue to attract international talents and funds externally. , To reverse the reality of gradual decline in competitiveness.

A government spokesman said that the "Annual Report" continues to affirm the advantages of Hong Kong in many aspects. Even in the face of unprecedented challenges in the past few years, the Hong Kong Government is still confident to maintain the advantages of the rule of law, judicial independence, free trade and simple low tax system. It also claims that it will elevate the status of the international financial, shipping, and trade centers and add momentum to development. However, this statement seems to ignore the many enlightenments brought to us by the ranking details of the "Annual Report".

Hong Kong once ranked first in the world's competitiveness in the 2017 World Competitiveness Annual Report

Continue to decline after losing the crown

Hong Kong once ranked first in the world's competitiveness in the 2017 Annual Report, but its ranking fell steadily afterwards. It first fell to second place in 2018 and then became fifth in 2020. This year It even became only seventh.

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Although Hong Kong still tops the list in terms of "government efficiency" among the four major competitiveness factors this year, "economic performance", "business efficiency" and "infrastructure" are lagging behind last year.

When the Hong Kong government expressed its joy, the above ranking changes have clearly shown that Hong Kong's advantages are gradually waning.

As the "Annual Report" quoted the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, apart from the economic impact of the epidemic and the rise of international trade protectionism this year, Hong Kong also has internal challenges such as insufficient land supply and an aging population. These issues will directly affect Hong Kong's future. Development, but in fact, they have always been old problems that local political circles have known but failed to do.

Refer to the top country to be evenly distributed

It is particularly worth noting that although Hong Kong’s “Government Efficiency” category in the “Annual Report” maintained the top spot this year, the “Social Framework” sub-item ranked only 34th. The factors scored in this link include justice and population. The degree of aging, political stability, social cohesion, Gini coefficient, income distribution, gender equality, freedom of speech, etc., are most of the things that have long been criticized by the Hong Kong government.

There are development bottlenecks in Hong Kong, and its external appeal will naturally fade away.

For example, one of the reasons why the "Annual Report" ranked Hong Kong's "economic performance" at the lower 30th place is that the "price" sub-item actually ranked 63rd near the end of the package, and ECA International announced on the same day The "Living Cost Statistics" study pointed out that Hong Kong continued to be the most expensive city for expatriate employees in the world, just enough to prove that this point has attracted international attention.

If the Hong Kong Government does not take the initiative to create an ideal livable and working environment, this will not only add to the burden for Hong Kong people, but also make foreign talents reluctant to settle in Hong Kong.

Finally, look at the countries that were ranked in the Annual Report before Hong Kongization. There is no doubt that their social systems have something to learn from.

For example, the Hong Kong government often emphasizes the advantages of a simple and low-rate system, but the tax systems of Nordic countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are not only complicated and have higher tax rates, but this has not dragged down their competitiveness rankings.

What these countries have in common is that they emphasize the government's function of redistributing resources to solve social problems that cannot be solved by market failures. Therefore, the Hong Kong government can learn from the Nordic countries and learn from the Nordic countries in addition to solving problems such as an aging population and insufficient land.

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-06-23

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