Our country successfully bounced back because of the extreme resilience of the national economy, which was demonstrated when the euro-franc exchange rate floor was abolished, ultimately without grave consequences. Business leaders predominantly believe that Switzerland will also be able to mitigate the impact of approval of the immigration initiative and reach an acceptable accord with the EU.
The IMD furthermore sees Switzerland as having very good infrastructure, business-friendly labour market policies, efficient and transparent administration and high productivity. However, the country received minus points for the Swiss National Bank’s currency policy, the protection of certain service industries, subsidy policy, high IT costs and high rents.
Switzerland has thus surpassed the US, which has fallen to third place after holding the top spot for three years. The strength of the American economy is no longer sufficient in itself, it was noted, to retain number-one status in the ranking released on Monday by Lausanne-based management institute IMD of the world’s most competitive nations, despite being the largest national economy ranked.
The Asian city-state Hong Kong was named the most competitive country due to its systematic approach to cultivating a favorable business climate, commented Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. The city’s leading financial center encourages innovation, particularly through low taxes and uncomplicated taxation rules.
The rankings indicate that much of Europe is moving in the right direction in terms of international competitiveness. Western European nations have advanced as they have been gradually recovering from the financial crisis thanks to strengthening of the public sector.
The rankings were determined based on over 340 separate parameters concerning the countries' respective economic performance, political system efficiency, enterprises and infrastructure.
