TRAVELLING in the United States this week reminded me how fundamentally resilient and competitive is its economy. Washington DC did not show any signs of recession, with the perfect blend of summer cool evenings and young students and old tourists wandering around Georgetown and the Mall.
The May 2013 IMD World Competitiveness Report mentioned that the US is once again No. 1, followed by Switzerland (2) and Hong Kong (3). Asia-Pacific economies performed very well, with 13 out of the top 30, with Singapore (4), UAE (8), Qatar (10), Taiwan (11) and Malaysia (15) in the top 15, and Australia (16), China (21), South Korea (22), Japan (24) and Thailand (27) in the top 30.