Canada Moves Up to 9th Place in Annual Competitive Ranking, U.S. Loses Top Spot[ca.news.finance.yahoo.com - Sep.08/09]
GENEVA - The United States has lost its place as the world's most competitive economy, mainly because of the financial crisis and accumulated fiscal deficits, according to a new annual survey.
The U.S. is second ranked in a poll of over 13,000 business leaders conducted by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, behind Switzerland. Singapore is third and Sweden comes fourth.
The annual ranking found Switzerland has overtaken the United States because the Swiss economic performance has been "relatively stable" while the American economy's "greatest weakness continues to be related to its macroeconomic stability."
Canada moved up to ninth place from 10th place last year and 13th place in 2007.
A spokesman for the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Toronto says that over the past two years Canada has moved past the United Kingdom, Korea, Hong Kong and the Netherlands in the rankings.
