Speaking today from Brussels where he is attending the Competitiveness and Trade EU Council of Ministers meetings, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD welcomed the announcement by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) that Ireland’s competitiveness rating has improved from 24th to 20th in the world.
The IMD today published its World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, which ranked Ireland:
· 20th overall, up from 24th in 2011,
· 1st for skilled labour and for flexibility and adaptability
· 2nd for lack of protectionism and for foreign investors
· 3rd for labour productivity and for exports of commercial services
· 4th for real corporate taxes
· 5th for inward investment flows
· 10th for business efficiency, up 8 places from 2011
Weaknesses were also apparent from the report, including access to credit for businesses: Ireland was ranked 53rd, a drop from 14th in 2008, but an increase of five places on 2011.
Commenting on the Report Minister Bruton said:
“The Taoiseach has set the ambition that by 2016 Ireland will be the best small country in the world in which to do business, and the Government has started to implement our plan to deliver on this. Through the Action Plan for Jobs, we are implementing a raft of changes to reduce costs to business, improve access to finance and encourage greater innovation and in the coming months I will be developing a list of areas in which Ireland’s performance is lagging internationally and a plan to address this.
“Today’s results show that, while there has been a noticeable improvement since 2011, we have a long way to go if we are to deliver on this ambition. I will be working hard, together with my Cabinet colleagues, to deliver real reform across the economy, improve our competitiveness and ensure that we can get jobs and growth back into the economy again”.