Dimitris Kouimtsidis
SPAIN has ranked 36th on the list of most competitive countries in the world, while the UK came in 19th.
The IMD conducts an annual World Competitiveness Ranking ranking 63 countries across different categories such as economic performance, business efficiency, life expectancy and unemployment rate among others.
IMD Director Arturo Bris described competitiveness as: “It determines how countries, regions and companies manage their competencies to achieve long-term growth, generate jobs and increase welfare.
“Competitiveness is therefore a way towards progress that does not result in winners and losers ? when two countries compete, both are better off.
IMD has been conducting this ranking for 31 consecutive years ‘spearheading research on how nations and enterprises compete to lay the foundations for future prosperity.’
Spain has ranked in 36th place, staying in the same spot as 2019.
Spain has worsened in three of the four major categories, including economic performance and business efficiency.
The Iberian country ranks staggeringly low regarding unemployment rate, coming in 59th place, only four spots above the bottom.
A spokesperson for the IMD stressed that: “Spain has a long way to go in the digital transformation of companies and in the use of big data.”
The UK on the other hand ranked 19th, up four places compared to last year when it was 23rd.
The country that tops the list for the second consecutive year is Singapore, thanks to its solid economic results, derived from forceful measures in international trade and investment, as well as in the labour market.
Denmark and Switzerland have both risen in the rankings compared to last year in order to complete the top three.
The US and China on the other hand, the world’s two largest economies, are two of the countries that dropped the most places this year, with the US dropping seven places to 10th and China dropping six places to 20th.
A spokesperson for IMD said: “The main cause responsible for these drops is the trade wars involving the two nations, reversing their growth trajectories, damaging both the American and the Chinese economy.”
