Poland has been ranked 41st in the 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Index prepared by the World Economic Forum in cooperation with the National Bank of Poland. This is the same as its previous result but worse than its 2010-2011 performance when Poland was ranked 39th.

“[Poland] displays a fairly even performance across all 12 pillars of competitiveness. Notable strengths include its large market size (20th) and high educational standards, in particular its high enrollment rates (17th),” the report stated.

“The financial sector is well developed (34th) and Poland’s increased trustworthiness (16th) has contributed to its very good performance in this domain,” it added.

It did, however, point out that “further enhancing competitiveness will require a significant upgrading of transport infrastructure, which trails international standards by a considerable margin (111th),” adding that “while some progress has been made in this area since last year, it is not sufficient to increase its ranking.”

The quality of roads in Poland continues to be assessed very poorly (134th).

And although the improvements to some aspects of the institutional framework, such as the transparency of government policymaking and physical security, are “notable,” the business sector remains very concerned about the burden of government regulation (124th), the report said.

As Poland transitions to the innovation-driven stage of development, it will have to focus more strongly “on developing capacities in innovation and business sophistication,” the report added.

“Stronger clusters, more R&D orientation of companies, and intensified collaboration between universities and the private sector would help the country to move toward a more future oriented development path,” it concluded.

Switzerland has the most competitive economy in the world, followed by Singapore and Finland, according to the survey.