Finland is the world's most competitive economy, followed by the United States, Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark and Norway, according to a Global Competitiveness Report released on Wednesday. The annual report by the World Economic Forum ranks countries according to economic growth prospects based on technological progress, the quality of public institutions and the macroeconomic environment. Finland, home to mobile phone giant Nokia, captured first place for the third consecutive year for the best growth prospects, the Geneva-based WEC said in its survey of 104 countries. It said Finland was "very well managed" at the macroeconomic level, praised the country for the high quality of its public institutions and said its private sector readily adopted new technologies and nurtured innovation.
The United States held second place, as it did in 2003. The WEC said US "technological supremacy" was offset by weaker performance related to its public institutions and the stability of the macroeconomic environment. Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist and director of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Program, said the United States had a "huge pipeline of innovation" but that its large fiscal and current account deficits were worrying. However, the WEC ranked the United States first on a separate business competitiveness index.
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