SA climbs competitiveness table
11 May 2006South Africa has improved its ranking by a further two places, to 44nd, in the 2006 World Competitiveness report compiled by the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD). This follows an improvement of three places from 49th to 46th of the 60 economies rated in 2005 (61 were rated this year).
The annual survey rates the ability of economies "to attract and retain investment through the creation of a competitive business environment," using 312 criteria to rank economies in four categories: government efficiency, business efficiency, economic performance, and infrastructure.
Government efficiency
South Africa jumped six places for government efficiency, from 34th to 28th, scoring particularly well for a lower effective personal income tax rate, management of public finances, policy direction and social security contribution.
The country moved up two notches, from 40th to 38th, for business efficiency, but lost four places for economic performance, dropping from 42nd to 46th.
SA's biggest weakness was its infrastructure, where it dropped two places to 60th. Infrastructure investments of billions of rands were announced in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's budget speech in February.
The 2006 report - describing some governments as burdens to their countries - also calculated the difference between the contribution of the government and of the economy to each country's overall competitiveness, and ranked governments accordingly.
According to Business Report, South Africa's government placed eighth overall for its positive contribution, after the governments of Finland, Denmark, Jordan, the Slovak Republic, Russia, New Zealand and Switzerland.
'Tighter race than ever'
"In 2006, competitiveness is a more compact race than ever before," the IMD's Stéphane Garelli said after the release of the report on Wednesday.
"Although the US is still Number 1 in the IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook, other economies, especially Hong Kong [ranked 2nd] and Singapore [3rd], are closing the gap."
Other countries in the top 10 were Iceland (4th), Australia (up three places to 6th) and Canada (down two places to 7th).
India recorded the biggest improvement, jumping 10 places from 39th to 29th.
South Africa was the only African economy to be rated by the IMD.
An alternative competitiveness ranking system, the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report, placed South Africa 42nd out of 117 countries surveyed in 2005 - down one place from 2004.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
|
