Cambodia ranked 94 out of 137 economies in this year’s Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum, dropping five notches from 89 last year. The Kingdom scores 3.93 out of 7, putting it only slightly ahead of Laos, which ranked 98, while Myanmar has been excluded from the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) for the last two years. The rankings, which combines 12 pillars that study everything from the strength of institutions to education and technological readiness, showed the Kingdom ranked under 50 in just one category: labor market efficiency at 48. Nearly half of the rest of the categories ranked within the 50 to 100 range, with the other half exceeding the 100 mark. Among the 12 pillars, Cambodia’s financial market development and macroeconomic environment ranked 61 and 70, respectively. Higher education and training skills scored the worst, with an unattractive ranking of just 124 out of 137. Innovation and infrastructure fared poorly as well, at only 110 and 106, respectively. According to the report, the more developed countries in Asean, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, consistently rank among the top 60 countries globally. (Source: Phnom Penh Post)