Keystone
According to a study, Switzerland is the most competitive economy in the world. In this year’s ranking by the Lausanne business school IMD, the country has made up two places compared to the previous year and comes in first.
In addition to Switzerland, the two Scandinavian countries Sweden (2nd place) and Denmark (3rd place) made it to the podium, as the IMD announced on Thursday. Norway is also in sixth place, Finland in eleventh place. This means that Scandinavia does the best as a region.
Swiss neighbors not in the top ten
Singapore, which was in first place last year, only made it to fifth place this time, making it the most competitive country outside Europe, ahead of Hong Kong and Taiwan in seventh and eighth. As in the previous year, the USA remains in tenth place.
Meanwhile, the Swiss neighboring countries did not make it into the top ten. Germany is in 15th place and Austria in 19th place. France is in 29th place and Italy only in 41st place. At the end of the ranking, Venezuela is well behind Argentina, which is second to last. Venezuela ranks bottom in almost all of the categories examined.
Chalked high price level
In a year-on-year comparison, Switzerland made up ground, especially in the “economic performance” category, as the study shows. According to the information, developments in international investment and employment had a positive effect here. In terms of prices, however, Switzerland is still far behind in 58th place.
According to the authors of the study, the challenges the country has to face in the current year include the challenges of the corona crisis, but also keeping the markets open and preventing protectionism.
In order to increase productivity, Switzerland must strengthen competition in the domestic sectors, it is also said. And it is important to increase the sustainability of the social and pension systems and also to maintain financial stability in view of the difficult monetary environment, according to the authors. (SDA)