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8.9.2009
- Slovakia ranked 47th in Global Competitiveness Ranking
According to the Global Competitiveness
Report 2009-2010 released today by World Economic Forum
(WEF) Slovakia was ranked 47 out of 133 ranked countries.
Slovakia falls one position down from the previous year's
rank 46. Switzerland is this year considered to be the
most competitive economy, shifting the former leader
USA down into the second place. Singapore is at the
third place followed by Sweden and Denmark. European
economies continue to prevail in the top ten with Finland,
Germany and the Netherlands following suit. Czech Republic
ranked 31, moving up by two places in comparison with
previous year. Poland ranked 46 and overtook Slovakia
by moving up seven places. Hungary climbed up in the
ranking from 62 to actual rank 58.
The Global Competitiveness Report assesses
the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity
to their citizens. This in turn depends on how productively
a country uses available resources. Therefore, the Global
Competitiveness Index measures the set of institutions,
policies, and factors that set the sustainable current
and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.
"As a result of global economic crisis,
most of countries recorded lower scores compared to
previous year. However, the strong interdependence among
the world's economies prevented any considerable shifts
in ranking": said Róbert Kičina, the Executive
Director of Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS), partner
institution of World Economic Forum in Slovakia. In
context with ranking of Slovakia he adds: "Low
ability of government to improve the business environment,
to reform and to eliminate the most significant barriers
to doing business causes Slovakia's third decrease in
the row. This evaluation shows that Slovakia loses its
competitive advantages against other V4 countries. While
our economy's ranking continually declines, the other
V4 economies are improving and two of them achieved
better position than Slovakia."
According to WEF, the main competitive
disadvantage of Slovakia is the item Favoritism in decisions
of government officials, with rank 127 in 133 countries
ranking. The other major comparative disadvantages include
Efficiency of legal framework in settling disputes,
Efficiency of legal framework in challenging regulations,
Public trust of politicians, Wastefulness of government
spending, Government procurement of advanced technological
products, Burden of government regulation and Agricultural
policy costs. Slovakia significantly lags in Quality
of air transport infrastructure and Public transport.
In the field of labour market WEF considers as the main
obstacle Hiring and firing practices (extreme downfall
from 15th place to 82nd place within 3 years) and growing
risk of so called "Brain drain".
As main strengths of Slovakia, WEF identifies
Prevalence of foreign ownership, Business impact of
rules on FDI, Low tariff barriers, Pay and productivity,
Business costs of terrorism, Soundness of banks and
Ease of Access to loans.
Based on the last year level of GDP Slovakia
was rated for the first time within the group of developed
countries (Innovation-driven economies), whose economic
improvement is according to WEF based mostly on their
ability to innovate.
"However, the item Innovations together
with Higher education and training and Infrastructure
are specific areas where Slovakia lags behind the developed
countries" says R. Kičina. Moderate lag is present
also in Primary education, Technological readiness of
country, Market size and Business sophistication. On
the other hand, Slovakia can compete with developed
economies in the area of Financial market sophistication
and is even above the average in Macroeconomical stability.
The Global
Competitiveness Index 2009-2010 rankings (PDF);
Profile of
Slovak Republic (PDF)
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