IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2021

in the ranks. Conversely, Hungary boots its ranking by five spots to 42 nd . Romania and the Slovak Republic progress from the 51 st to the 48 th spot and from 57 th to 50 th , respectively. In the same vein, Ukraine improves by one spot to 54 th as does Croatia to 59 th . Poland experiences the largest downturn in this sub-region, dropping eight spots to 47 th place. Similarly, Bulgaria moves down from 48 th to 53 rd position. Estonia’s improvement originates in economic performance (particularly in the domestic economy), government efficiency and infrastructure. Its performance in business efficiency experiences a downturn with the largest decline being in productivity. In the case of Poland, the decline is mainly due to the plummeting of government and business efficiency. Under the former, the largest drops are in business legislation and the societal framework. Public finance and the institutional framework also display a steep decline. In business efficiency, all sub-factors deteriorate with the largest decreases being in the labor market, management practices and attitudes and values. The trend is similar for infrastructure in which basic infrastructure and health and environment show the steepest slumps. Eastern Asia As discussed earlier, from these sub- region, Hong Kong SAR (7 th ) and Taiwan, China (8 th ) are among the top-ranking economies. China improves from 20 th position to 16 th , and similarly, Japan takes 31 st from 34 th . Korea Rep. remains in 23 rd position. China improves this year as a result of advancements in all competitiveness factors. In economic performance, it

shows a strong recovery in international trade (when compared to 2020). There is sharp improvement in government efficiency, mainly because of hefty boost in tax policy but also to lesser increases in public finance, business legislation and institutional framework. Despite a downturn in productivity, labor market, management practices and attitudes and values, business efficiency shows a slight gain. This is due to an improvement in finance. All sub-factors of infrastructure improve with the exception of scientific infrastructure which remains in the same position. Ex-CIS and Central Asia In this sub-region, Kazakhstan improves from the 42 nd rank to the 35 th . Similarly, Russia boosts its position up to the 45 th place (from 50 th ) as it does Mongolia which moves up to 60 th (from 61 st ). Kazakhstan advancement results from improvements in all competitiveness factors. In economic performance all sub-factor progress with the largest increase in employment. Likewise, within government efficiency, all sub-factors advance with the best performance in tax policy. Under business efficiency, Kazakhstan significantly boosts the labor market component. Basic infrastructure shows the largest increase with infrastructure. North America In this sub-region, as noted earlier, the USA remains in the 10 th place. Canada and Mexico, however, decline from 8 th to 14 th and from 53 rd to 55 th , respectively. Canada’s decline is largely due to downturns in government and business efficiency. With respect to the former, public finance, tax policy, institutional framework and the societal framework all show deterioration to different degrees. In terms of business efficiency, labor market

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IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS BOOKLET 2021