Romania Climbs 4 Spots To 64 In WEF’s World Competitiveness Top

The report, which comprises publicly available data and responses from 13,000 business managers across 133 economies, ranked Romania 24th among European Union members, a two-spot improvement since last year.

The Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 said Romania still has to improve a few basic requirements, such as infrastructure (where it scored only 2.67 points – on a scale from 1 to 7), healthcare (5.5 points) and education (4.3 points).

As to macroeconomic stability, Romania scored poorly in four out of five categories, with the government debt category posting the only competitive attribute.

The government surplus/deficit, the national savings rate, the interest rate spread and inflation, all came down at a disadvantage or low competitiveness in the report.

Worldwide, Switzerland has outranked the United States as the most competitive economy, as the USA lost points in the financial market competitiveness.

Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany also appear in the top 10.

The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and introduced in 2004. The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness, providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development.

The pillars include Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labour Market Efficiency, Financial Market Sophistication, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication, and Innovation.

The survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate. The Report also includes comprehensive listings of the main strengths and weaknesses of countries, making it possible to identify key priorities for policy reform.