IDA today welcomed the news that Ireland ranks 6th of the 63 countries benchmarked in the 2017 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook. This means that Ireland has moved up one place in overall competitiveness from last year’s ranking.
Ireland achieved top ranking position in a number of important sub factors as follows:-
• 1st for Labour Productivity
• 1st for Investment Incentives
• 1st for National Culture
• 1st for Labour productivity
• 1st for Flexibility and adaptability
• 1st for Attracting and retaining talent
• 1st for Attitudes towards globalisation
Commenting on the results from India where he is currently meeting with investors, Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said: “Rankings matter in the foreign investment industry – and the IMD survey is one of the most important.”
“These rankings are extremely encouraging for Ireland and will greatly aid the IDA in marketing Ireland to potential investors around the globe.”
“International competition for mobile investment opportunities remains extremely high. The progress which Ireland has made in recent years in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is significant. We are now firmly positioned as a leading destination of choice for global businesses.”
“Ireland continues to offer a strong skills base and a pro-business infrastructure to prospective companies looking to invest. However, in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and a changing global political landscape, it is vital that we constantly monitor and maintain our attractiveness in areas like costs, property availability and talent. Ireland should never rest on its laurels – we have to continually work on our competitiveness as we will continue to face stiff competition from other countries.”
Ireland ranks in the top 5 rankings for:
• Overall workforce productivity
• Image abroad
• Agility of companies
• Population growth
• University education
• GDP per capita
• ICT service exports
• Secondary school enrolment
• Start up procedures
• Value added of KTI industries
About the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook:
The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) is reputed as being the worldwide reference point on the competitiveness of nations, ranking and analysing how an economy manages the totality of its resources and competencies to increase the prosperity of its population. It has been published since 1989 and compares the competitiveness of 61 nations on the basis of over 300 criteria. It is based on hard data statistics and a business executives’ opinion survey.
