Global survey: Israel is No. 24 in competitiveness

According to a new report released by IMD, Isreal slipped three places compared with last year with a score of 73.425
 
Israel's overall competitiveness in the world ranks 24th, a slight fall of three places compared with last year, with a score of 73.425, according to a new report released by the leading global business school IMD last Wednesday.
 
The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) is the world’s most renowned and comprehensive annual report on the competitiveness of nations, ranking and analyzing how a nation’s environment creates and sustains the competitiveness of enterprises.
 
The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009, which ranks a total of 57 economies, analyzes competitiveness along 329 variables, grouped into four categories: economic soundness, government efficiency, business, and infrastructures. Israel's rankings fell in all categories.
 
In the overall rankings, the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and Denmark were ranked in the top five while China slipped to 20th from 17th a year ago.Taiwan dropped to 23rd from 13th and South Korea moved up four positions to 27th. Meanwhile, Britainmaintained its position at 21st and Thailand went up one rung to 26th.
 
This year, due to the global financial crisis, IMD added a "stress test", aimed at examining how "countries can resist adversity and show resilience to weather the storm". Israel was ranked 20th, ahead of Japan (26), the US (28), and the UK (34).