瑞士全球竞争力居首位

The US has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world's most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits¹ and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday.

一个全球经济组织周三称，在一项世界经济体的全球竞争力排行中，美国因为巨额赤字和公众对政府信心的日益缺失，竞争力排名进一步下滑，降至第五位。

The announcement by the World Economic Forum² was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking US economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.

Switzerland held onto the top spot for the third consecutive³（连贯的） year in the annual ranking by the Geneva-based forum, which is best known for its exclusive meeting of luminaries⁴（杰出人物） in Davos, Switzerland, each January.

Singapore moved up to second place, bumping Sweden down to third. Finland moved up to fourth place, from seventh last year. The US was in fourth place last year, after falling from No. 1 in 2008.

The rankings, which the forum has issued for more than three decades, are based on economic data and a survey of 15,000 business executives.

The forum praised the US for its productivity, highly sophisticated and innovative⁵ companies, excellent universities and flexible labor⁶ market. But it also cited "a number of escalating⁷ weaknesses" such as rising government debt and declining public faith in political leaders and corporate⁸ ethics⁹.

The results of a survey of 142 nations comes a day before Obama is preparing to tackle jobs issues in a speech to the US Congress, and just as US polls show a clear majority of those surveyed say they disapprove¹⁰ of the way Obama is handling the economy.

Switzerland held onto its top ranking, the forum said, because of "continuing strong performance across the board" with innovation, technological¹¹ readiness, even-handed regulation and having one of the world's most stable economic environments.

Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, was sixth, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark. Japan came in ninth, and Britain was 10th. France was 18th, and Greece, saddled with debt, fell to 90th.

The report looked at broader trends: While the US slipped, emerging markets gained traction¹². China took 26th place, highest among major emerging economies; Brazil was 53rd; India was 56th; and Russia was 66th.