Switzerland slips to 5th place in World Competitiveness Ranking

Please login or
register
24.05.2018
World

Today IMD has published its World Competitiveness Ranking 2018. Switzerland which ranked 2nd in 2017 moves down to 5th. The United States returns to the first spot

The top five most competitive economies in the world remain the same as in the previous year, but their order changes. Switzerland declines mainly due to a slowdown in exports and, to a lesser extent, an increase in perceptions about threats of relocation of R&D facilities.

The United States returns to the first spot, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and the Netherlands. The United States improves three positions from last year while Hong Kong drops one spot and Singapore remains 3rd. The return of the United States to the top is driven by its strength in economic performance (1st) and infrastructure (1st). Hong Kong takes a somewhat different approach exploiting its government efficiency (1st) and business efficiency (1st).

The Netherlands moves one place to 4th, swapping with Switzerland which moves down to 5th. The Netherlands’ advancement shows a “balanced” path to competitiveness, ranking in the top 10 in economic performance, government and business efficiency.

In general, most Western European countries experience a decline with respect to last year. With the exception of Cyprus and Spain, all countries experiencing a decline in the overall rankings show signs of a slowdown in economic performance to different degrees. For example, in economic performance Iceland drops 18 places and the United Kingdom 16 positions. 

The IMD World Competitiveness Center, a research group at IMD business school in Switzerland, has published the rankings every year since 1989. It compiles them using 258 indicators. ‘Hard’ data such as national employment and trade statistics are weighted twice as much as the ‘soft’ data from an Executive Opinion Survey that measures the business perception of issues such as corruption, environmental concerns and quality of life. This year 63 countries are ranked.

(Press release)

0Comments

rss