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Ireland is world's 3rd most globalised

Tuesday, March 12 10:25:36

Ireland is the world's third most globalised nation in terms of GDP, and remains the most globalised nation in the western world, according to Ernst and Young's latest globalisation Index released at Davos.

The report also confirms that Ireland is forecast to maintain its overall ranking until at least 2015 due to continued projected growth in trade and capital.

The globalisation Index has five measurements to assess a country's individual global ranking including: openness to global trade, global capital movements, global exchange of technology, global labor movements and cultural integration. The report, drafted in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), confirms that Ireland is the second most globalised economy in culture and joint third with Singapore in the global movement of finance and capital.

"Despite having been hit hard by the recession, research confirms that Ireland is well placed to compete with larger economies worldwide. globalisation continues to define our business landscape with increasing levels of cross-border trade, capital and labour integration. This is underpinned by the number of multinationals located within Ireland," said Mike McKerr, Managing Partner at Ernst and Young.

Since 1995 Ireland has remained within the top three globalised nations based on our overall score; it has risen by 1.21 points above the global average of 0.70 points. Globally, Ireland ranks sixth overall in terms of Trade (+0.91 out-performing the global average +0.63) and it ranks first on openness and ease of trading.

"These rankings demonstrate how well positioned Ireland is to build on this brand and grow its fledgling trade links with fast growing emerging economies such as China and India. These rankings will be further strengthened, with the IDA currently broadening its global focus to support high-growth companies, emerging from these economies. They have indicated 20pc of all Greenfield investments will come from these regions by 2014," added Mr McKerr.

Ireland is highly dependent on foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite being a small open economy, it has managed to attract a disproportionate amount of high value FDI in the last decade. However, Ireland's goods export performance is heavily dependent on the export of medical and pharmaceutical products. This sector is dominated by mainly foreign-owned multinationals and with patents on several major drugs manufactured here due to expire, this could potentially take a toll on Ireland's export pharmaceutical market.

The existence of the International Financial Services Centre has been a positive factor for Ireland's consistently strong performance in openness to movement of capital and finance. This is largely driven from the rise in FDI flows (ranking fourth globally) and portfolio capital flows (ranking first globally).

McKerr continued: "Ireland faces a highly competitive landscape, with notable strong competition arising from the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland. We can't afford to rely on our previous success. We need to think of more innovative ways to differentiate ourselves from our international competitors, through a combination of cost-competitiveness, enhancing our tax offering and addressing any perceived skills shortage".

While most forecasters believe global GDP will be in the range of 3pc - 3.5pc in 2013 with a modest increase in subsequent years, the Index suggests that globalisation will continue to advance driven primarily by technology and the cross-border flow of ideas. It also highlights the improved globalisation scores in the last 12 months for medium sized rapid growth markets like Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines as well as smaller European countries including Belgium, Slovakia and Hungary.