Israel is ranked 17th in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010 rankings of 58 countries, up from 24th place in 2009. Israel is ahead of China, Finland and New Zealand. Singapore topped the rankings, followed by Hong Kong, and the US.
The International Institute Management Development (IMD) at Lausanne, Switzerland, ranked Israel in first place in several categories, including its economy's soundness in the face of economic crises and in the functioning of its central bank. The World Competitiveness Report is further testimony of the functioning of the Bank of Israel in recent years, during the great economic crisis for which the bank and Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer have already been praised.
The World Competitiveness Report also ranks Israel in first place in R&D spending as a percentage of GDP. However, Israel still lags in variables such as participation in the labor force, reducing bureaucracy, and it is ranked last in the proportion of dependant population to the supporting population.
The World Competitiveness Report ranks the 58 countries on 327 variables grouped into four competitiveness factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. Hard data are taken from international or national organizations, private institutes and partners, and survey data are drawn from the annual Executive Opinion Survey of 4,460 respondents. The Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce is World Competitiveness Report's representative in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 20, 2010
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