Croatia ranked 68th in the 2018 Global Competitiveness Index among 140 economies of the world, with a score of 60.1, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual Global Competitiveness Report 2018 released on Wednesday.

Croatia’s national competitiveness council (NVK), a partner to the World Economic Forum, said that the WEF had considerably changed its methodology this year, which resulted in Croatia ranking better than last year, when it placed 74th among 137 countries, with the identical score of 60.1.

“The latest survey again shows and confirms the necessity of implementing reforms and adopting a long-term vision for Croatia … and clear sector strategies which would support such a vision,” NVK chairman Ivica Mudrinic said, adding that such an approach to public policy management would restore hope in a better future.

“That would probably have a positive effect on keeping young people in Croatia, and would encourage many to become entrepreneurs and get involved in economic development and consequently in the realisation of our desired common future… All stakeholders in the society are responsible for getting actively involved in making such development possible,” Mudrinic added.

According to the WEF’s new methodology, the total number of indicators tracked for the report has been reduced from 114 to 98, and the proportion of hard statistics, along with surveys conducted among businesses, has been increased from 31-43 percent to 70 percent in the final score, meaning that the overall ranking now depends considerably less on how the country is perceived, and more on numerical indicators.

This year’s survey covered 140 countries accounting for 99 percent of the global GDP, and home to 94 percent of the world’s population.

The report said that the slow implementation of reforms in Croatia resulted in continuing stagnation of Croatia on the global level.

On the global competition rankings, Croatia had worst scores in macroeconomic stability (106th), the labour market (96th), market size (78th), and institutions (76th).

On the other hand, Croatia ranked best in infrastructure (36th), health (51st) and innovation capacity (63rd).

As in previous years, the report shows Croatia ranked worst in efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes (139th), ease of hiring foreign labour (139th), burden of government regulation (138th), hiring and firing practices (135th).

As competition advantages, Croatia ranked best in terms of electrification rate (1st), trade tariffs (6th), quality of roads (17th), workers’ rights (32nd), mean years of schooling (37th), and female participation in labour force (40th).

As for countries in Croatia’s neighbourhood, Slovenia ranked 35th, Hungary 48th, Bulgaria 51st, Romania 52nd, Serbia 65th, Montenegro 71st, and Albania (76th).

This year, the United States topped the list, returning to first place since 2009, followed by Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan as top five economies in the world.

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