WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM
The latest Global Competitiveness Report compiled by the World Economic Forum shows South Africa at 44th of the 53 countries listed, one place lower down the list than last year’s rating.
New entry to the list, the Slovak Republic, entered at 35th position, which pushed SA down. There were three other newcomers to the list: Vietnam (49), Zimbabwe (51), and Ukraine (52). Russia was judged the world’s least competitive country for the second year in a row. At the top of the ranking is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong and the United States.
The reports ranks economies on their ability to achieve sustained per capita GDP growth, and takes into account 155 criteria, including openness to international trade and finance, quality of infrastructure, technology, management, labour market flexibility and the role of government.
SA was ranked 17 in terms of size of government, and also scored well in infrastructure, financial sector and technology.
SA’s worst performance was in the labour arena, coming last in industrial relations and third from last in labour skills and productivity. The country was also third from the bottom in terms of the ability of the police to safeguard personal security and mitigate the effects of crime on business.