Millennial Challenges: Managing the Global Competitiveness Index

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; www.SolomonicCrown.org


Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and friends of Ethiopia:

This is a very important news as global competitiveness is what is going to drive business investment and job creation opportunities around the world.

The report below shows Ethiopia has dropped three points to the bottom of the global competitiveness index. Please read on the following interesting report.


Country's Global Competitiveness Drops Three Places

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
4 August 2007
Posted to the web 6 August 2007

By Hayal Alemayehu
Addis Ababa

Ethiopia's global competitiveness in the current fiscal year dropped by three places to a 123rd position amongst 128 economies, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2007 Africa Competitiveness Report.

Last year, the country was ranked 120th out of 125 nations covered by the same annually released report.

The latest report, released last month, indicated that Ethiopia became the fifth least performer in global competitiveness this year, albeit an improved score the country registered in the new ranking than that of the earlier year.

Ethiopia scored a three-point in the latest ranking assessing Africa's competitiveness in a global context, where Tunisia topped and Angola bottomed the 29 African countries covered in the report. Tunisia secured a 4.72 point, outranking China and India - the world's emerging economies - while Angola, the least performer, scored a 2.50 point.

The WEF has been analyzing the competitiveness of African countries since 1990, and so far produced four such reports, including the freshly released one.

The goal of this latest series is to highlight the prospects for sustained growth in the region and, more importantly, the obstacles to competitiveness, according to WEF. Released annually, the WEF global competitiveness report identifies impediments to growth in respective countries of the world, thereby helping policymakers and responsible governmental and non-governmental institutions to introduce and take informed decisions and reforms.

"This fourth report of Africa's competitiveness in the global economy came amid renewed optimism against the background of a much more encouraging regional economic climate," read the report. "After many years of economic stagnation, and at times, even decline, Africa is experiencing an economic resurgence."

The report, however, took note that the witnessed growth was fueled by a confluence of external circumstances and interventions such as high commodity prices and debt relief, rather than a solid domestic foundation. It remarked that higher rates of growth over decades are desperately needed to considerably raise the living standards of African people.

Acclaimed as the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of national economies, the WEF report is used by governments, academics and business leaders.

The global competitiveness index (GCI), albeit simple in structure, provides a holistic overview of factors that are critical to driving productivity and competitiveness, and groups them into nine pillars:

1. institutions (public and private),
2. infrastructure,
3. the macro-economy,
4. health and primary education,
5. higher education and training,
6. market efficiency (goods, labor, financial),
7. technological readiness,
8. business sophistication,
9. innovation.

10. Business friendly environment

"Each of these pillars plays a critical role in driving national competitiveness. The GCI is the most comprehensive competitiveness index to date, measuring the macro- and micro-economic drivers of competitiveness across a large number of countries," read the report.

Of the nine major factors taken into account in measuring national competitiveness, Ethiopia scored better in its institutional status, for which the same report ranked the country at a 91st position among the 128 countries treated in the report. The country as well secured better scores in macroeconomic and infrastructural status.

Notwithstanding the county's success stories in the field of health and, especially primary education, which world's chief economists such as Jeffery Sachs acclaimed, Ethiopia's performance in this sector pales when compared to the other countries, the competitiveness survey included. Ethiopia is ranked at a 124th position amongst the 128 economies in the field of health and primary education.

Nonetheless, the country secured an overall better score (3.0 point) in the latest competitiveness report than that of previous year (2.9 point).

Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius, Egypt and Morocco were respectively the top five performers of Africa's countries in global competitiveness. Angola, Burundi, Chad, Mozambique and Ethiopia were, in contrast, the least five performers.



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