Tito Summa Siahaan – Indonesia has continued its slide down the economic competitiveness rankings compiled by a Swiss business school, suggesting the country may have failed to make the most of the opportunities presented by robust economic growth.

Indonesia was ranked 42nd in the 2012 survey conducted by IMD, down from 37th a year earlier. The country was ranked at 35th in 2010.

Indonesia's ranking fell in three of four indicators in the survey: government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. For the last indicator, economic performance, the country's position was unchanged.

The survey of 4,200 executives from 59 countries found that economic dynamism and policy stability were the main attractions of Indonesia, while research and development culture and educational levels were the least attractive.

The survey was conducted last year, before the government's recent decision to introduce a 20 percent tax on 65 mineral ores, a policy proposal that surprised many businesses.

The survey, with analysis provided by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted five key challenges for the country's competitiveness in 2012: enforcing the rule of law, relaxing relatively tight labor rules, overcoming poor quality infrastructure and the sluggishness of its development, improving the implementation of the government's budget and maintaining a good investment climate.

According to the survey, since 2010 Indonesia has improved relative to other countries in terms of corruption, competition legislation and bureaucracy, but has gone backwards in R&D spending, renewable technologies, urban management and infrastructure distribution.

In the Asia Pacific, Indonesia was ranked 12th out of 13 countries surveyed.