Colombia’s competitiveness in the global economy fell from a year ago, according to the influential annual rankings from Switzerland’s international business school IMD released Thursday.
Colombia dropped from 46 to 52 on IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook, just seven spots above the bottom wrung of 59 ranked states.
Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United States took the top spots. Every Latin American nation, aside from Mexico, fell in 2012’s ranking.
The report analyses 329 criteria, including survey results from 4,200 international executives to determine “how well countries manage their economic and human resources to increase their prosperity.”
Colombia ranked ahead of Argentina and last-placed Venezuela, but behind Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Chile – which held the top spot of a Latin American nation at 28th.
The executive survey results revealed “a growing skepticism” in some countries towards globalization and the need for economic reform.
On the first point, Colombia ranked in the middle of the pack, meaning globalization is viewed neither overwhelmingly positively nor negatively in the country.
The Andean nation was ranked 50th in a survey on the need for economic reform, meaning executives believe the need for reform is generally not well understood in Colombia.
Attitudes towards reform were increasingly negative in Latin American countries in general, the survey also revealed.
“Emerging economies are relying on domestic demand and national champion companies to insulate themselves from economic turmoil, while the “submerging” developed economies are turning to re-industrialization,” noted professor Stephane Garelli, of the IMD’s World Competitiveness Center. “In both cases, economic nationalism is back and protectionism is tempting.”