ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has further fallen nine points on the Global Information Technology index, ranking 98th amongst the 134 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF on Thursday released its 8th annual Global Information Technology Report 2009. This year, Pakistan ranked 98th out of 134 countries, which is indicative of a weak Information and Communication Technology (ICT) base. Last year Pakistan's ranking was 89 out of 127 countries. The report gauges a country's connectedness in the global environment through its information and communication technology infrastructure. The report's rankings are based on the Networked Readiness Index, which measures the likelihood that countries will exploit the opportunities offered by information and communication technology services. It tries to comprehend the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of nations. The global information technology report has followed the ICT revolution and evolution over the years. ICT has encouraged transparency in government processes and improved countries efficiency and services to citizens. In order to improve its network connectedness, Pakistan should invest more in ICT infrastructure related services ad moirT broadly innovation, the report suggested. Some of Pakistan's other competitive disadvantages identified in the report are the absence of adequate competition in the market place (112), unnecessarily long procedures to enforce a contract (119), extremely low expenditure on education (119) and equally low enrolment in tertiary education (114). Significant drops were seen in spending on research and development from 72nd spot to 86th this year, govt prioritization of ICT from 38th to 57th, and a staggering drop in the quality of education system from 85th to 104th. The information and communication technology report's ranking are based on the networked readiness index, which measures the likelihood that countries would exploit the opportunities offered by information and communication technology services. According to this year's report, Denmark, Sweden, and United States secured the top three ranks respectively, further consolidating the fact that they have the most solid information and technology base. Switzerland dropped two spots to 5th, and was replaced by USA in the third rank. This year Canada entered the top ten slot ranking 10th where last year it was at 13th. Norway dropped two spots to number 10th from 8th.