Ireland has slipped from 11th to 24th place in a list of the world's most competitive economies according to a report from the World Economic Forum.
The US knocked Finland off the top spot in the WEF's annual Global Competitiveness Report for 2002-2003, mainly due to its 'excellent performance in technology,' the Geneva-based WEF said. Taiwan, Singapore and Sweden filled third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
These rankings provides an estimate of growth prospects over the next few years. Ireland's sharp decline was attributed to the deterioration in the monetary and fiscal policy situation facing Ireland, while the country's ranking in the technological progress list also fell from 28th to 31st. Ireland's ranking for microeconomic competitiveness improved slightly from 22nd to 20th.
Published since 1979, and in recent years produced in collaboration with Harvard University, the report measures the comparative strengths and weaknesses of 80 national economies.
Turkey experienced the worst performance in this year's report, slipping 16 places.
