Finland most competitive economy, India up 5 slots
No country has an economy more conducive to sustained growth than Finland says that
World Economic Forum in its newly released Global Competitiveness Report Finland tops the WEF’s Growth Competitiveness Index for 2005 for the third successive
year.
India ranked 50 out of 117
countries listed ,a rise of three ranks from the last year .India improved its standing on the back of its
technological prowess .The other Asian giant, slipped five paces to end one spot above India at 49.
The WEF warns that both countries suffer from institutional weakness that could slow their ascension to the top tier of the world’s most competitive economies if left unaddressed .
Second- best growth prospects, according to the WEF’s index , lie with the United States ,followed by Sweden, Denmark, Taiwan and Singapore
The World Economic Forum compiles its annual competitiveness rankings to pinpoint why some countries are able to grow consistently ,while others stagnate or see an erosion of living standards.
At the bottom of the
ranking of 117 industrialised and emerging economies are Chad, the Kyrgyz Republic ,Guyana ,Benin, Parguay ,Camerron, Bangladeshand Zimbabwe.
The WEF’s GCI has three main legs: the overall quality of a country’s economy at macro
level( eg budget surpluses and deficits); the state of its public institution ,which includes such measures as the independence of the judiciary and the level of public sector corruption ; and the level of its technological innovation.
Finland scores well on all three sub-indexes ,ranking in the top five in each.
The US in contrast is easily No 1 for technological innovation ,but its overall ranking is dragged down by being 23rd on the macroeconomic environment ranking, one place below Austria, and 18 th on the public institutions sub-index ,one place ahead of Qatar.
Finland is given marks for prudently running budget surplu7ses in preparation for the future claims on its social security, pension and health care system expected to be incurred as its population ages .Finland also scored well for its low level of corruption and for the technological innovation of its private
companies such as mobile-phone maker Nokia, oil and gas company Fortrum and its four big pulp and paper companies: all members of the Forbes 2000 list of the world’s biggest companies.
Finland has been ranked No1 for the fourth year.
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