TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's competitivenes rank went up from 42 in 2018 to 32 in 2019, according to a research by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY). Analysts say that President Joko Widodo or Jokowi must take improvement measures in response to the rank-hike.

Toto Pranoto, the managing director of the University of Indonesia's Institute of Management of the Faculty of Economics (LM FEB UI), said Indonesia still had challenges to face in 2019.

He mentioned five main challenges covering sluggish economic growth and credit expansion, lack of reinforcements in basic industries, inconsistencies in policies enactment and law enforcement, the need to improve workers' competence and expertise, as well as the need to change the government's structure post-elections.

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"Answering these challenges requires equal efforts to continue improving Indonesia's competitiveness," Toto said on Monday, June 3.

Indonesia's competitiveness rank in the 2019 IMD WCY climbed 11 spots from 43 to 32—the highest jump for an Asian country. Indonesia's current rank is above India, the Philippines, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil.

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The WCY assessed Indonesia as leading in domestic economy, tax policies, labor markets, as well as behavior and values. However, Indonesia still has room for improvements in international trade, health and environment, education, and technological infrastructure.

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