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NEW YORK, USA ? Thanks to the weakened dollar, the US has leapfrogged France, Britain and other European countries as a cheaper place to do business.
A new study released Thursday by the auditing and consulting firm KPMG shows that the US moved up on the list of most cost-efficient places around the world. Researchers compared 136 cities in 10 countries in North America, Europe and Asia, but did not include fast-growing China.
Mark MacDonald, the global director of KPMG Competitive Alternatives, said the survey authors found the US to be more cost competitive than they had ever seen because of the plunging dollar.
The weak dollar means overseas companies, like automakers, get more bang for their buck.
The US was ranked No. 1 for affordability among auto makers, up from sixth just two years ago, MacDonald said.
The euro and the yen are stretching further now than they did two years ago, driving down the cost of everything from labor and transportation to the cost of energy used to power factories.
In 2006, the US ranked seventh, and lagged behind sever al other G7 countries. This year, with the dollar at record lows against the euro, only Mexico and Canada were cheaper. The US is now cheaper than Britain, the Netherlands, Italy and France.
?It makes the US a relatively more attractive place to do business,? MacDonald said.
The dollar has also hit 12-year lows against the yen this month.
?Currency change was a central theme in this year?s study,? study co-author Glenn Mair said on a conference call.
Mair, director of MMK Consulting Inc., said the double-digit gains in the value of the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, British pound and other currencies when compared to the dollar had shifted the competitiveness equation.
Mexico, which is new to the study, was cheapest overall. /AP
