Ireland has moved up a place to 10th in the world competitiveness table, according to the latest report from the World Economic Forum.

Singapore remains the most competitive country, followed by the US and Hong Kong. Among EU states, Luxembourg, the UK and the Netherlands are ahead of Ireland, with Finland one position below.

The overall index is built on the average of eight factors - openness, government, finance, infrastructure, technology, management, labour and institutions. Countries are given scores on each of these factors, which are then weighted to give an overall score. Almost 4,000 business executives are surveyed in the course of its compilation.

Ireland has top position for the low rate of corporation tax, but our income tax charge is seen as a liability, according to the WEF, which puts us 44th in the world on this score.

Other liabilities include VAT, where we rank in 46th place, and the "misalignment of the exchange rate", at 50th position. This appears to relate to the weakness of the euro on the foreign exchange market, which would be seen as inappropriate for a strong economy.

Infrastructure also scores very poorly overall at 28th position, mostly because of the cost of domestic air travel, at 48th, and the railways, at 42nd overall.

We also score relatively poorly in the institutions category, in 20th position overall, being held back by very low ranking in bribes and kickbacks, product liability and private business disputes.

Areas which are major assets include the "Government" - a measure of the support of the administration and its policies for enter prise - at 7th position, technology in 8th and labour and finance at 11th.

Low corporation taxes, the tax system and public sector competence are all seen as factors in Ireland's favour, as is the strong financial position of the Government.

In technology categories, Ireland generally ranks fairly well, achieving top place in technology transfer and 4th in e-commerce. However, on Internet information and use, we score badly.

Ireland has the second-fastest employment-to-population rating in the world and the third-highest years of schooling, according to the WEF. However, hiring and firing practices rank lowly with the executives surveyed.

In the top 10 rankings, Singapore kept its position as the world's most competitive economy, despite the fall-out from the Asian financial crisis, the United States moved one place up to second, while Hong Kong came third after slipping back one place from last year.

The survey, which assesses 59 nations for their medium-term potential for rapid economic growth, said the United States was "sitting on top of the world . . . impervious to gravity".

However, it warned the US bubble may burst, arguing that its economic growth - driven by high consumer spending fuelled by soaring share prices - would not be enough to justify the nation's current high stock market valuations.

"We would not be surprised to see a bit of the US exuberance cooled in the next year," said the report, whose co-authors are economists Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development.

At the bottom of the competitiveness league table was Russia, demoted from 52nd position last year. Just above it was Ukraine, down from 53rd place last year.