Armenia holds the 97th position out of 134 in the Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 published by the World Economic Forum, Wednesday. Armenia has dropped by 4 positions as compared with the previous ranking. The United States tops the overall ranking. Switzerland is in the second position followed by Denmark and Sweden. Azerbaijan holds the 69th position, and Georgia - the 90th position. According to the ranking, the main obstacles for Armenia's economy are corruption, low level of tax administration, regulation of exchange rates and unsatisfactory work of the state machine.

By the efficiency of public structures Armenia holds the 96th place. The most unfavorable situation is fixed in the sphere of intellectual property protection (106th place), public confidence in politicians (104), independence of judicial system (123), ethic behavior of firms (115), and protection of interests of minority shareholders (124). By the general state of infrastructure, Armenia is in the 90th place in the ranking. By the efficiency of motor highways, railroads, as well as electric power supply, Armenia holds the 79th , 83rd and 89th positions respectively. By the quality of telephone lines Armenia holds the 65th place. The country has comparatively higher indices in the group of macroeconomic stability criteria (83). By inflation rate the republic holds the 61st place, and the government debt rate is qualified as Armenia's competitive advantage (26).

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report. In 2008, about 12 thsd businessmen from 134 countries took part in the survey.
