Bulgaria 3 Places Down on Global Competitiveness Ranking

Bulgaria ranks 74th in a yearly global economic competitiveness ranking spanning 142 countries. Photo by europe.bg

Bulgaria has dropped three places to 74th in a yearly economic competitiveness ranking of the World Economic Forum.

The 2011-2012 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) covers 142 world economies, according to an announcement of the Center for Economic Development, a Bulgarian non-governmental think tank.

Bulgaria's downgrading is due to low scores on goods market efficiency, technological readiness, business sophistication, infrastructure and innovation.

At the same time, the country has registered progress in the spheres of institutions, financial market development, labor market efficiency and quality of education and on-the-job training.

The latest edition of the report shows Switzerland to be the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore.

The US drops one place to fifth position, while the top ten predominantly comprises EU countries- Sweden (3rd), Germany (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Denmark (8th) and the United Kingdom (10th).

Japan ranks 9th, falling three places since last year.

The report confirms a continuous deterioration in the competitive power of the US economy over the past 3 years, with EU's position remaining constant and China registering rapid growth.

Another trend that can be observed is that the economic crisis has dragged some EU member states down the 2011-2012 global competitiveness list.

Bulgaria used to rank at the bottom of the group of EU countries, but it has now managed to outpace Romania, which has dropped 10 places to 77th.

According to the report, Romania's competitiveness has deteriorated in all areas.

Greece, as expected, continues its downward trend to 90th position due to the debt crisis and the problems plaguing its labor market.

The top performer among Central and Eastern European EU Member States is Estonia, which retains 33th place, followed by the Czech Republic (38th), with Slovenia registering a serious decline from 45th to 57th place.

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