Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says the dollar will remain supreme but others see the renminbi going global sooner rather than later.

The global economy will grow 3.5% this year, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde tells the Davos summit.

Trade minister will be discussing his candidacy for the organisation's director-general.

Auckland-based biofuels pioneer tipped by the influential forum as "an industry-changing company with the potential to transform the future".

While the country's score remained the same, it was overtaken by Israel and Malaysia.

Qatar is more competitive than New Zealand according to the Swiss-based World Economic Forum.

New Zealand’s three-place slide on the World Economic Forum’s latest competitiveness rankings to 23rd out of 139 economies is pegged to a failure to lift innovation performance.