Ireland is now ranked 12th in the world for competitiveness.
Minister for Business Heather Humphreys says it's disappointing Ireland has fallen six places in the latest IMD World Competitiveness Rankings.
Ireland is now ranked 12 in the world for competitiveness, down from sixth position last year.
"After several years of improvement, the decline in Ireland's overall ranking in this year’s IMD publication is disappointing," Minister Humphreys said.
"What it tells us is that we cannot become complacent about the hard-won gains of recent years."
The United States has claimed top spot on the list, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
While, as with most global lists, the Nordic countries have strong representation with Denmark, Norway and Sweden ranking 6th, 8th and 9th respectively.
However, the findings didn't represent all bad news, despite the fall in competitiveness, Ireland is the third most competitive economy in the Euro area.
"I am acutely aware that Ireland’s competitiveness is hugely important to our continued business and economic success and the National Competitiveness Council will review the findings in detail," Minister Humphreys said.
The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking uses 258 indicators in its research methodology.
