The Swiss institute IMD has published the 2014 edition of its annual report on competitiveness, the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY).
Since 1989, this report has been published annually. In this new edition 60 countries are analysed through more than 300 criteria. These criteria are both quantitative and qualitative in nature (from a survey of business decision makers) based on four main categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business environment and infrastructure.
The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) ranking in 2014 is headed by the United States (with a score of 100 out of 100), Switzerland (92.4) and Singapore (90.9).
Luxembourg occupies 11th place (82.1) in the overall ranking, and its neighbouring countries are ranked in 6th place (Germany), 27th place (France) and 28th place (Belgium). The European GCI ranking is headed by Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Luxembourg is in 6th position in Europe. Within the European Union, the GCI ranking is led by Sweden, Germany and Denmark. Luxembourg is ranked 4th in the EU in 2014.
Source: IMD (2014)
Between 2013 and 2014, Luxembourg gained 2 positions in the world ranking. However it must not be forgotten that, in 2010 and 2011, Luxembourg was already ranked in 11th position.
As regards the four categories that make up the composite GCI, Luxembourg ranks as follows :
- for the first pillar "macro -economic performance," Luxembourg is in 4th position overall . This is also the first pillar in which the performance of Luxembourg is the highest. For example, Luxembourg shows particularly good performance in terms of international trade (4th) and foreign investment (3rd), but lower performance in terms of price (41st).
- for the second pillar "government efficiency", Luxembourg is in 19th place. For example, Luxembourg is ranked 15th in terms of public finances, 38th in fiscal policy but is 13th against a global context.
- for the third pillar "business environment", Luxembourg is ranked 14th. For example, the performance of Luxembourg is high in finance (7th) and productivity (8th).
- for the fourth pillar "infrastructure", Luxembourg is ranked 23rd overall in 2014. This is the least efficient pillar for Luxembourg. For example, Luxembourg is ranked 30th in basic infrastructure, 22nd for technological infrastructure bus is ranked 12th against environment & health, and 14th in education.
Source: IMD (2014)
The IMD report also includes the results of a survey of national economic policy-makers on key factors of attractiveness of Luxembourg. The five most frequently cited responses are political stability and predictability (63%), the tax system (53.7%), infrastructure (42.6%), a skilled labour force (40.7%) and legal environment (37%).
Finally, the 2014 edition of the IMD study includes an analysis of the brand image of a country abroad. A question was posed in the poll to decision-makers if the brand image of the country abroad encourages, yes or no, business development at a national level. Luxembourg is positioned 27th worldwide in this ranking, with a score of 6.49. This ranking of attractiveness is led by Singapore, followed by Germany and Ireland.
Source: IMD (2014)
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