China has remained as the ninth competitive economy in Asia for the sixth consecutive year, according to a Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) report released on Tuesday.

The report, titled Asian Competitiveness Annual Report 2019, was released at a press conference on the first day of the BFA annual conference, which will run through March 29 in Boao, a town located next to the eastern coastal city of Qionghai in south China's Hainan Province.

Other economies that have made it to the top five are South Korea, China's Taiwan, Singapore, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Japan.

South Korea moved two slots up from last year to be crowned Asia's most competitive economy.

Israel, Australia, New Zealand, China, and the United Arab Emirates ranked 6th to 10th respectively.

The report revealed that comprehensive competitiveness scores of the 37 Asian and Pacific regional economies have all been on the rise, with the gap between developed and developing economies in the region gradually narrowing, and economic outlook for Asia remaining promising.

The future Asian economy is set to stand on its own feet and notch up steady growth by relying on the huge consumer market and infrastructure construction market. It is expected to take the lead in walking away from the global economic growth downturn and obtain fundamental improvement in the security environment, according to the report.

In 2018, GDP growth of the E11, the eleven emerging economies, namely Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey stood at 5.1 percent, down 0.1 percent year-on-year, according to a separate report, BFA Development of Emerging Economies Annual Report 2019, which was also released at the press conference.