© Luc Rollmann
The "Luxembourg Strategie" task force has been launched to help rebuild the economy in a more sustainable way. According to the latest competitiveness report, Luxembourg ranks fourth in the EU, behind only Denmark, Slovenia, and Ireland.
Even though the annual report presented by Minister for the Economy Franz Fayot on Monday morning was concerned with the year 2019, it was unavoidable to address the repercussions of the pandemic. Fayot noted that the crisis had shown that new evaluation criteria, such as vulnerability and resilience, needed to be included aside from competitiveness.
Link: Competitiveness Report 2020
Serge Allegrezza, director of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (STATEC), confirmed and underlined this notion as well. The idea is to rebuild the country in a more sustainable way while focusing on social, economic, and environmental policies.
A new task force, entitled "Luxembourg Strategie", has therefore been launched by the Ministry for the Economy. The Observatory for Competitiveness will subsequently be integrated into this new unit and help reorganise the strategic routes for the government.
Minister Fayot further noted that the Grand Duchy's EU ranking can be seen as evidence for the country's good starting position. He expressed his optimism that this position can be further improved after the end of the pandemic.
Looking at social aspects, Luxembourg ranks second in the EU, even though the poverty rate and the amount of citizen debt both remain high. Minister Fayot explained this tendency by referring to the problems in the housing sector.
Looking at economic criteria, the Grand Duchy ranks 12th in the EU, and sixth in the environment category.
