Swiss lead competitiveness rankings

SWITZERLAND has topped the rankings in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, pushing the US into second place in the process.

Figures from the World Economic Forum said financial market weakness and economic instability relegated the world’s largest economy into the number two slot.

Singapore, Sweden and Denmark took the next three competitiveness rankings respectively, while European economies maintaining their presence among the top 10 most competitive economies included Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, who are still ranked among the most competitive economies across the globe.

Ireland’s status in this critical league table continues to deteriorate, falling three places between 2008 and this year to 25th, highlighting the serious pressure on our struggling economy to cut its cost base to restore the edge it lost during the property boom.

As Switzerland and the US swapped places at the top Singapore moved from 5th to 3rd, while Sweden remained 4th and Denmark slipped from 3rd to 5th.

Germany in 7th place retained its position while Japan moved up a peg to the take the number 8 slot.

Britain, although remaining competitive, moved down one more place to 13th.

Among large developing countries China leads the way among large developing economies and moved up from 30 to 29.

Among the three other large evolving so called BRIC economies Brazil and India also improved, while Russia tumbled 12 places to 63 in the table.

Other Asian economies also performed strongly including Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, who were also among the top 20.

The Global Competitiveness Report’s is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and was first introduced in 2004.