The United States tops the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit. The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has dropped by three places and out of the top 10, mainly attributable to a weakening of its financial markets.
Estonia fell five places from 27th to 32nd in the rankings.
WEF notes that the Estonian economy is still the most competitive among those 12 countries which joined the European Union in 2004. This is attributed to efficient governmental institutions and well-functioning markets.
“The [Estonian]Government manages the budget skilfully, taking new technologies to [good] use to advance the economy,” says the report.
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.
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