The World Economic Forum places the UK among the most competitive economies.
The United Kingdom is the seventh most competitive economy worldwide. This has been confirmed in the report by the World Economic Forum (WEC), also known as Davos Forum, which released the ranking of the most competitive economies in the world. Britain has gone up three places since 2015 when they were in tenth position.
The United Kingdom is among the ten most competitive economies worldwide, before Hong-Kong, Japan, and Finland and behind countries like Switzerland, who is in first position for the second year in a row, Singapore, the United States, Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden.
The list has been calculated by measuring 114 economic variables in fields such as macro economy, education and health systems, labor markets, business regulations and technological penetration indexes.
The factors that have placed the United Kingdom among the ten most competitive economies are, according to the WEF, the British digital development, the fact that it hosts world-leading institutions worldwide, the infrastructures and its business-friendly regulations.
Indeed, the United Kingdom is the third most digitalized economy in the world, with the best internet coverage worldwide and with the access to new technologies widely spread in British society. To the World Economic Forum, Britain also has prestigious business and management schools, they are the country to own the most foreign businesses, have the second most advanced advertising industry and a strong regulation on the rights of intellectual property. These are factors than explain why the British economy is placed among the most competitive countries worldwide.
However, the British economic system is not exempt of risks. The WEF pointed out that the public deficit (of -4.4%) and the undue reliance on imports are ballasting the British economic recovery.
Moreover, the British economy faces a large obstacle due to the Brexit. The United Kingdom’s future will depend on the decisions and the outcome of the forthcoming negotiations with Brussels to exit the European Union and bilaterally with the Member States. For this reason, the Brexit should be seen more as an opportunity than a defeat.
At Del Canto Chambers, with our #EmbraceSpain campaign, we defend that the Brexit will allow the United Kingdom to rethink its bilateral strategies with rest of the countries in the world, including Spain, and that this is necessary to strengthen bonds with London.
The Del Canto Chambers‘ team, at their headquarters in Madrid and London, are specialized in tax and commercial law and they can be contacted at clerk@delcantochambers.com
Del Canto Chambers’ Editorial Board
