Iceland has dropped from 7th place to 30th in a report conducted by Swiss Business School which ranks countries by how healthy their market competitiveness is.
According to the report, which was presented to the Ministry of Business today, the top three countries with the strongest competitiveness between businesses are Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. The top ranking European country was Switzerland, in fourth place. Among Scandinavian countries, Sweden was in 6th place, Norway in 9th place, Denmark in 13th and Finnland in 19th.
In 2007, Iceland was in 7th place, but in light of findings brought forth by the Special Investigative Commission report, even that ranking might have been suspect. This current survey was based on 2009 figures. Among the other elements factored in was public confidence and trust in Icelandic companies, which has been decidedly low lately.
On the bright side, the analysts who compiled the report believe the budget will balance by 2015.