By Business & Finance 
Ireland has moved up nine places in overall competitiveness from last year’s ranking in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), a worldwide reference point on the competitiveness of nations.
The IMD WCY analyses how an economy manages the totality of its resources and competencies to increase the prosperity of its population.
Based on hard data statistics, it has been published since 1989 and compares the competitiveness of 61 nations on the basis of over 300 criteria.
Ireland is regarded as particularly strong in terms of the competitiveness of its tax regime, education and skill level of the labour force, business friendly environment, policy stability, strong R&D culture and cost competitiveness.
Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland, commented: “International competition for investment has never been more intense. IDA Ireland has set ambitious investment and jobs targets in its current strategy. However, in order to achieve these targets, we will have to remain vigilant and monitor our competitiveness in areas like costs, property availability and talent.”
He continued: “In recent years Ireland has regained valuable competitiveness, while continuing to offer a strong skills base to prospective companies looking to invest here. This has helped to deliver a very strong FDI performance by Ireland. Ireland must remain conscious of maintaining improved competitiveness in an export led economy, the provision of suitable skills coming through the workforce and Ireland must continue to provide business advantages that resonate with global companies.”
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD said: “Since 2011, improving competitiveness performance has been a core focus of Government policy and integral to jobs growth. The significant improvement in Ireland’s overall ranking in this year’s IMD publication is very welcome news and an important signal to international investors. The improvement in Ireland’s ranking is the result of the efforts of ambitious enterprises, hardworking employees and effective enterprise focused policies.”
