The annual GDI ranks the business growth environment of the 60 largest economies in the world over the past 12 months by combining 22 indicators like GDP growth, R&D spending, regulatory risk, access to finance, and labour productivity.
Others in the Asia Pacific region to have declined are Australia (from first position to third) and Malaysia (from 13th to 16th).
In considering the financial environment, which covers the financial regulatory system, access to capital, inward M&A deals, private sector indebtedness, inward investment and corporate tax burden, Viet Nam ranks 29th globally, a drop of three places. Malaysia slid from 16th to 27th and Australia from 11th to 16th.
Japan (36th) has the lowest ranking in the region.
Globally, Singapore ranks first.
The overview improved significantly for Viet Nam when referring to labour and human capital, which analyses labour productivity growth, unemployment, time spent in education, population, where it is seventh in the global ranking and fifth in APAC.
APAC countries ranked surprisingly high in economics and growth, which include real GDP growth, private consumption growth and stock market growth, holding the top 10 positions globally, with Viet Nam being in fifth place.