Hong Kong has fourth most efficient government in the world - three places ahead of Rwanda

Hong Kong's government has been ranked the fourth most efficient in the world by an international economic body, coming 27 places higher than the administration on the mainland.

In the Asia-Pacific region, only Singapore was ranked higher than Hong Kong, coming second. Qatar was ranked the most efficient government worldwide. Rwanda was ranked seventh.

In their annual Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum said their assessments were based on factors such as wastefulness in spending and the burden of regulations.

The mainland was ranked No31, dragged down by its poor-quality legal institutions and lack of transparency in policymaking, according to the report.

Italy, Argentina and Libya were ranked among the 10 least efficient governments, with Venezuela taking the dubious honour of scoring lowest.

University of Hong Kong politics and public administration associate professor Peter Cheung Tsan-yin said credit for the city's success had to go to civil servants.