Hungary Moves Higher in Global Competitiveness Ranking

Hungary is the world’s 47th most competitive economy, according to the global competitiveness ranking of 141 countries published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The country moved on spot higher from last year’s 48th place in the list, which continues to be topped by Singapore, followed the U.S. and Hong Kong, state news agency MTI reports. The most competitive European economy is the Netherlands, ranking 4th, followed by Switzerland in the 5th place. The European Union, which failed to improve its position in any of the ranking’s indicators, has an average competitiveness score of 72.3, trailing the U.S. (83.6) and Japan (82.3). Hungary ranks 24th among the 28 EU member states, unchanged from last year. The country’s average competitiveness score rose by 0.8 points, mostly as a result of the improvement in the adoption of information and communications technologies and road infrastructure developments. The WEF highlighted that Hungary’s weak anti-trust regulations hinder competition. The macroeconomic environment, especially the relatively low level of inflation, is the strongest pillar of Hungary’s competitiveness. The Geneva-based institute calculated the competitiveness index on the basis of 115 indicators that measure, in addition to productivity, an economy's capability to tackle the challenges of the future.