Ireland remains the 22nd most competitive economy in the world, unchanged from its position in the previous survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
However, the report shows that inadequate supply of infrastructure is the number one problem for business people working in the State. As a result Ireland has a ranking of just 49 thfor the quality of its infrastructure.
Ireland's ranking in the Business Competitiveness Index, which focuses mainly on the climate for doing business in each country, fell two places to 24th.
Other factors impacting on Ireland's competitiveness were inflation, inefficient Government bureaucracy, restrictive labour regulations and the "poor work ethic of the national labour force".
The United States topped the World Economic Forum's latest global competitiveness, followed by
Switzerland and Denmark in third place. Britain moves up one place to ninth, while China and Russia moved up the rankings.Of the EU countries, Ireland is 11th.
Changes to the index in 2007 - including expanded analysis of goods, labour and financial markets and a new focus on market size - mean it cannot be directly compared to previous years' rankings.
The results are based on criteria inlcuding economic stability, market size, innovation, education and health. The WEF also consulted more than 10,000 top business leaders about the pros and cons of doing business in the 131 countries included in the survey.
Global Competitiveness Index rankings
1 United States
2 Switzerland
3 Denmark
4 Sweden
5 Germany
6 Finland
7 Singapore
8 Japan
9 United Kingdom
10 Netherlands
11 Korea
12 Hong Kong SAR
13 Canada
14 Taiwan, China
15 Austria
16 Norway
17 Israel
18 France
19 Australia
20 Belgium
21 Malaysia
22 Ireland