The Chair of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), Dr Frances Ruane, this week published Ireland’s Competitiveness Scorecard 2020 – one of the Council’s key annual publications. The report provides the Council’s overall assessment of the competitiveness of the Irish economy, flags a number of areas that are negatively impacting Ireland’s competitiveness and identifies areas of concern.
Government Must Tackle Long Standing Competitiveness Weaknesses
Dr Ruane said: “Over many years the National Competitiveness Council has pointed to weaknesses in the business environment, but the pace of dealing with these weaknesses has been slow, as is evident in our relatively poor performance in certain areas in the Scorecard. Now is an opportune time to change this as we grapple to become more sustainable in economic and social terms”.
The Council has identified five broad challenges that can support economic recovery if addressed.
These five challenges are:
▪ Supporting Ireland’s workers and seizing opportunities for upskilling;
▪ Ensuring the economic recovery is a sustainable green recovery;
▪ Addressing long standing issues;
▪ Supporting an open international economy.
The NCC will use the Competitiveness Scorecard, together with other research and taking into account policy and other developments as this year continues, to prepare its flagship annual publication, Ireland’s Competitiveness Challenge (due to be released in September). This comprehensive report will make recommendations to Government on the best ways to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the economy as the recovery process linked to COVID-19 gets underway.
Dr. Ruane added, “The data in the Scorecard show our relative strengths and weaknesses just as the pandemic took hold and point to areas where these weaknesses may impair the speed of a sustainable economic recovery. Dealing with these competitiveness weaknesses will be paramount to achieving a sustainable and balanced recovery in a period of heightened global uncertainty”.
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