Sweden third, US sixth in world competitiveness ranking

UK slips and US falls in competitiveness league

Wednesday September 27, 2006
The Guardian

The British economy has slipped down the world league in terms of competitiveness but remains in the top 10 for the second year running, an authoritative annual survey from the World Economic Forum showed yesterday.

Britain is in 10th place - down from ninth last year - while the United States has fallen from first to sixth.

Augusto Lopez-Claros, the forum's chief economist, said [about] the British economy [..] "One area that needs improvement is the physical infrastructure - railways, airports, electricity supply. Public debt levels have also gone up and the pound has been unusually strong, leading to a drop in competitiveness for the export sector," said Mr Lopez-Claros. [..]

Commenting on the US slide down the rankings, Mr Lopez-Claros cited concerns over economic management and the business environment.

The business survey pointed to concern about "wastefulness" in public spending [..] "With a low savings rate, record-high current-account deficits and a worsening of the US's net debtor position, there is a non-negligible risk to both the country's overall competitiveness and, given the relative size of the US economy, the future of the global economy," the report said.

The top four economies in terms of competitiveness are now Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Mr Lopez-Claros noted that these countries did not conform to a low-tax, low-spending model. Singapore remained in fifth place.

Sweden Number 3 in World Competitiveness

Radio Sweden
2006-09-26



Sweden has risen to third place in the new World Economic Forum global competitive rankings.

The report lists Switzerland in first place, followed by Finland. Third place Sweden is followed by Denmark and Singapore. Last year's number one, the United States, has fallen to 6th place.

Sweden was in 7th place in the rankings last year.

Commenting on the strong showing by the Nordic countries, the World Economic Forum says they:

"…have been running budget surpluses and have lower levels of public indebtedness on average than the rest of Europe. Prudent fiscal policies have enabled governments to invest heavily in education, infrastructure and the maintenance of a broad array of social services."