The Netherlands back in 8th position of Global Competitiveness Report

Up two positions in World Economic Forum's annual global competitiveness assessment for 2010-2011

Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 9 September 2010 – Switzerland tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011, released today by the World Economic Forum ahead of its Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2010 in Tianjin. The United States falls two places to fourth position, overtaken by Sweden (2nd) and Singapore (3rd), after already ceding the top place to Switzerland last year. In addition to the macroeconomic imbalances that have been building up over time, there has been a weakening of the United States’ public and private institutions, as well as lingering concerns about the state of its financial markets. The Nordic countries continue to be well positioned in the ranking, with Sweden, Finland (7th) and Denmark (9th) among the top 10, and with Norway at 14th. Sweden overtakes the US and Singapore this year to be placed 2nd overall. The United Kingdom, after falling in the rankings over recent years, moves back up by one place to 12th position.

The Netherlands moves up two positions to 8th place. Dutch businesses are highly sophisticated (ranked 5th) and are among the most aggressive internationally in absorbing new technologies for productivity enhancements (ranked 3rd for their technological readiness). The country’s excellent educational system (ranked 8th and 10th for the two related pillars) and efficient factor markets, especially goods markets (ranked 8th), are highly supportive of business activity. The Netherlands is also characterized by a comparatively stable macroeconomic environment,  improving on a relative basis compared with last year.

Source: WEF press release, 9 September 2010