Switzerland pushed the United States out of the top spot as the planet's most competitive economy while Canada moved up one to ninth, according to rankings released Tuesday.

The World Economic Forum said the tiny landlocked European country received high marks for its banking system, established infrastructure and stable inflation and growth policies in the group's "global competitiveness rankings."

As a result, Switzerland, the 39th largest economy in the world according to the Central Intelligence Agency, beat out the United States in the forum's 2009 list of most competitive economies.

"Switzerland tops the overall ranking.…The United States falls one place to second position, with weakening in its financial markets and macroeconomic stability," said the Swiss-based Economic Forum in a press release.

The United States ranked as the top economy in terms of innovation and efficiency but slumped badly to 28th out of 133 nations surveyed in terms of physical infrastructure and financial institutions.

By contrast, Switzerland posted thirds in all three categories.

The United States was tops as the world's most competitive economy in 2008 while Switzerland was second.

Canadian rise

Canada's economy inched up a single spot in the World Economic Forum's ranking, rising to ninth on the list of most competitive economies, ahead of the Netherlands and just behind Japan.

Canada scored highest in terms of basic institutions, especially health care, and so-called "efficiency enhancers" where the country was ranked fourth.

The rankings were derived from publicly available statistics and the results of the organization's executive opinion survey, in which 13,000 business leaders were asked questions regarding the 133 countries.

Of those executives, 22.6 per cent of respondents said access to finance capital was Canada's biggest economic problem followed by 16.7 per cent who complained heaviest regarding Canadian tax rates.