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World Economic Forum releases 31 most competitive countries globally


Big News Network.com
28 Sep 2016

COLOGNE, Switzerland - There were many surprises in store in this year’s annual Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum.

The report, that looks at the state of the world’s economies saw Switzerland retaining its top poll position, receiving a score of 5.81 which was higher that it has scored in previous years. 

The report uses a variety of data from each country to put together a picture of the economy of almost every country that exists. Some of the factors that are gauged include the soundness of banks and the sophistication of businesses in the country being measured. 

The report pointed out that it ranks countries based on the “12 pillars of competitiveness,” that include macro-economic environment, infrastructure, health and primary education, and labour market efficiency.

The report said that Switzerland ranked in the top 10 of 11 pillars and even topped four of the categories i.e. labour market efficiency, business sophistication, innovation, and technological readiness.

Switzerland was followed by Singapore, that received a score of 5.71. 

Singapore has been on the second position for the sixth year in a row and the report indicated that the island nation needs to improve on business sophistication and innovation to clinch the top spot. 

United States scored the third position in the report this year, scoring 5.70 attributed to its stable macroeconomic situation and a falling budget deficit.

WEF said, “The position of the United States is driven by innovation, business sophistication, market size, financial market development, labor market efficiency, and higher education and training.”

U.S. was followed by Netherlands and Germany, that tied for the fourth position, with both countries scoring 5.57. 

The report said that Netherlands moved up the ranking this year due to its “small improvements across all three subindexes, with a solid and even performance across the pillars including top 10 ranks for infrastructure, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, technological readiness, business sophistication, and innovation.”

Germany on the other hand dropped by one place in the rankings even though “its macroeconomic environment is generally stable, with a very low government deficit, yet - like the rest of the euro zone - it faces near-zero inflation.”

Sweden moved up three places in this year’s report and was ranked sixth with 5.53. The report atributed this to the “improvements in the basic factors of competitiveness, especially the macroeconomic environment.”

The United Kingdom moved out three places to become the seventh most competitive economy in the world. WEF however warned that Brexit could threaten the position of the country and said, “Our analysis suggests there is more downside risk from Brexit than there is upside when it comes to the competitiveness of the UK economy.”

U.K. was followed by Japan that fell by two places. Japan was tied with Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region of China) for the eight place. Finland and Norway tied for the tenth spot on the list. 

Denmark held the 12th spot, followed by New Zealand, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Canada, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Qatar, Austria, Luxembourg and France, Australia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, Iceland, China, Saudi Arabia, Estonia, and Czech Republic - that together make up the 31 most competitive countries globally.

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