The article examines the competitive status and competitive positions of Ukraine. It proves that in the current context the competitive status of the national economy is determined by the presence of a strong global competitive force that provides dynamic growth based on innovation potential, developed institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, business dynamism rather than by traditional factors (natural resources, geopolitical situation). It has been identified that a wide range of factors in global competitive force establishment suggests the complexity of its assessment. It has been noted that in world economic practice the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum is predominantly used to assess the competitive status of the national economy. It has been determined that according to this index, in the overall ranking among 141 countries in 2019, Ukraine ranked 85th (2009-2010 – 82/133; 2018 – 83/140). The article analyzes of the competitive status of Ukraine in the international arena in terms of twelve pillars of the studied index and in the context of components of the said pillars. The dynamics of Ukraine's global competitive force in recent years shows that there has not been any build up. However, if one analyzes it in terms of the criteria of the global competitive force of the domestic economy, their assessment is volatile: the main regression can be traced in the sphere of the financial system, where Ukraine dropped by 19 positions in one year (2018 – 117/140, 2019 – 136/141), and the greatest progress is observed in the product market, where Ukraine rose by 16 positions in one year (2018 – 73/140, 2019 – 57/141). Analysis of the components of Ukraine’s global competitive force criteria shows that the worst positions in terms of such components are as follows: non-performing loans (% of gross total loans) – 139/141 and soundness of banks – 131/141. The best positions are in terms of the following components: costs of starting a business – 14/141 and attitude towards entrepreneurial risk – 18/141.
