Slovenia drops five spots in IMD Digital Competitiveness Raking

Ljubljana – Slovenia has slid five spots in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking to 40th among 64 countries, with the Covid-19 pandemic perceived as the main reason as it has significantly affected the competitiveness of all regions, countries and industries.

This is how the Institute for Economic Research, the Slovenian partner of the Swiss-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), which carries out the survey and compiles the raking, sees the result.

Noting that the rankings had been mostly affected by the pandemic, the institute’s director Peter Stanovnik said that “shifts in the crisis are not as important as response to it in the coming years.”

According to him, the Covid-19 crisis has pointed to the importance of innovation in companies and digital transformation, as well as cooperation of the public and private sectors, in all countries.

Stanovnik thus said that it was response to the crisis that was important, and that ensuring a high level of motivation of managements and employees in the business sector would be of key importance.

“It will also be important at what pace employment rate will increase and workforce gaining digital skills, in particular in healthcare and education,” he added.

Sonja Uršič of the institute noted that the rankings was based on economic performance, efficiency of the government, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The fields where Slovenia places among the top 30 countries, which implies the country’s competitive advantages, include international trade, prices and employment.

In terms of efficiency of the government, Slovenia fared best in the social framework, and in the infrastructure segment it performed best in education, healthcare and environmental policies.

Stanovnik noted that the rankings was topped by countries that had managed to respond to the health and economic crisis and growing unemployment – Switzerland is first, followed by Sweden and Denmark.

Tomaž Kostanjevec, the head of the SPIRIT public agency, commented on the result by saying that Slovenia’s rankings served as a reference point to the agency when presenting the country as a business environment and foreign investment destination.

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