BULGARIA SLUMPS TO 57TH IN WORLD COMPETITIVENESS SCOREBOARD

Bulgaria has been ranked 57th among 60 countries n the freshly released World Competitiveness Scoreboard for this year.

The Balkan country has dropped three places as compared to last year’s scoreboard.

The annual ranking, complied by Swiss business school IMD, takes into account the ability of nations to create and maintain an environment in which enterprises can compete, calculating economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The US has regained the No. 1 spot in 2013, thanks to a rebounding financial sector, an abundance of technological innovation and successful companies.

China (21) and Japan (24) are also increasing their competitiveness. In the case of Japan, Abenomics seems to be having an initial impact on the dynamism of the economy.

In Europe, the most competitive nations include Switzerland (2), Sweden (4) and Germany (9), whose success relies upon export-oriented manufacturing, diversified economies, strong small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and fiscal discipline. Like last year, the rest of Europe is heavily constrained by austerity programs that are delaying recovery and calling into question the timeliness of the measures proposed.

The BRICS economies have enjoyed mixed fortunes. China (21) and Russia (42) rose in the rankings, while India (40), Brazil (51) and South Africa (53) all fell. Emerging economies in general remain highly dependent on the global economic recovery, which seems to be delayed.

In Latin America, Mexico (32) has seen a small revival in its competitiveness that now needs to be confirmed over time and by the continuous implementation of structural reforms.