9 Sep 2009

NZ rated 20th in world competitiveness

9:46 pm on 9 September 2009

New Zealand has jumped four places to squeeze into the world's top 20 countries for global competitiveness.

The World Economic Forum's annual Global Competitiveness Report placed the United States first, followed by Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore.

New Zealand was rated highly for a lack of corruption, stable government, and foreign currency regulations.

On the downside, inadequate infrastructure, inefficient bureaucracy, and tax rates have been identified as the top three problems in doing business here.

Australia was in 18th slot, and Chad came in last. The survey polled over 12,000 business leaders from 134 countries.