Ireland gained ground in world competitiveness rankings last year, according to the latest figures. Barry O'Halloran reports.

The Lausanne Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD) yesterday published its assessment of economic competitiveness for over 60 countries.

Ireland was ranked at 11 with a score of 80.647 out of 100. The result meant the country improved its performance slightly on 2004, when it came 12th. The US registered the top score of 100, Hong Kong was second with 96.866 and Singapore was third with 90.993.

Ireland ranked fourth out of the EU member states, behind Denmark which was fifth from seventh in 2004, and Luxembourg and Finland, which were ninth and 10th respectively. Finland fell four places.

The UK was ranked at 21. It also improved its 2004 position by one and registered a score of 71.393.

Other strong EU performers included Austria, which went from 17 to 13 between 2004 and 2005. Sweden remained unchanged at 14 and the Netherlands slipped two places to 15.

Two of the EU's biggest economies declined. France fell five places to 35 and Germany dropped three to 26. The IMD singled out a number of strengths in the Irish economy, including the wealth it produces (gross domestic product), the rate at which investment flows into and out of the country, corporate taxes and investment incentives. The weaknesses it pointed out included inflation, the health service (which it said was not meeting the population's demands) and management of public finances.

The country's poor infrastructure was also pinpointed as a weakness. The IMD recommended that the country maintain its drive to attract high-value jobs, further promote research and development, and boost the standard of infrastructure.

It also argued that the country should work at maintaining the flexibility of its workforce and its educational advantage.

The Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, welcomed the IMD's findings yesterday. "Increasing competitiveness across all sectors of the economy is the key to sustaining economic growth, generating more employment opportunities and providing a profitable base from which companies can compete and win more business in world markets," he said. But he warned that costs had to be restrained by realistic comparisons with trading competitors.