Since the report doesn't mention exactly why Israel's relative rank eroded, it is believed that the low ranking was due to inefficient government bureaucracy and onerous taxation
According to the Competitiveness Index published last week by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the years 2007-2008, Israel's ranking in the list slipped: it was more competitive in the previous report, falling to 17th place among 131 countries, from 14th place in 2006.
The WEF publishes a Global Competitiveness Report on a yearly basis, and as usual, the United States topped the overall ranking.
Since the report doesn't mention exactly why Israel's relative rank eroded, it is believed that the low ranking was due to inefficient government bureaucracy and onerous taxation .
Some suggestions say that Israel's relative rank was low due to improvements in other countries.
Nontheless all Israeli responses noted inefficient government red tape as the worst problem business encounters in Israel, while 16% named the high level of tax as the most burdensome issue.
After the United States, the most competitive countries were Switzerland in second place, followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Finland. The least competitive were the African nations of Chad and Burundi.
The index is influential among international investors, but should still be viewed with due caution.
