This year's Global Competitiveness Report, compiled by the World Economic Forum, ranks Libya poorly in virtually all categories except macroeconomic indicators.

The 2013-14 edition of the index, which is published annually, puts Libya in 108th place worldwide compared to 106th last year, with 148 countries included in the listings.

Mongolia is ranked 107th and Bhutan 109th, with Switzerland, Singapore and Finland topping the list. Chad came last.

The positions are calculated using a range of weighted criteria on which each country is judged, including infrastructure, institutions, education, technology, financial markets and business sophistication.

Libya performed extremely well in terms of its macroeconomic indicators, in 16th position worldwide, reflecting the strong GDP growth experienced after the 2011 revolution and positive forecasts for the next few years - although the recent oil crisis may well have dented those projections.

However in most other criteria it was ranked far worse. In terms of innovation and business sophistication the report considered Libya to be 141st place, while its financial markets were rated second from bottom.

A small survey carried out as part of the research found that 12.9% of respondents thought 'inefficient government bureaucracy' was the biggest hindrance to doing business in Libya, with infrastructure and workforce factors ranked in second and third places respectively. Corruption was third.

The two least problematic issues, according to the survey, were inflation and tax issues.