Business
Africa country rankings: Global Competitiveness Index
The World Economic Forum has released its Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, which ranks economies in terms of national competitiveness. Of the 144 countries ranked, 38 are African economies.
Competitiveness as defined by the The World Economic Forum is the “set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. The level of productivity, in turn, sets the level of prosperity that can be earned by an economy. The productivity level also determines the rates of return obtained by investments in an economy, which in turn are the fundamental drivers of its growth rates.
This year saw Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Seychelles included in the rankings with a return by Libya after a year of non-inclusion.
Here is a summary of the top ranking African countries:
Rwanda
Rwanda is one of the top 10 gainers this year, moving up seven places to 63rd from 70th last year, and is the third ranked economy in Africa in terms of competitiveness.
Rwanda benefits from strong and relatively well-functioning institutions, with very low levels of corruption, and a good security environment.
Rwanda is characterized by a capacity for innovation that is quite good for a country at its stage of development.”
South Africa
South Africa is the top ranked country in Africa in terms of competitiveness, and is ranked 52nd out of the 144 economies surveyed.
South Africa is placed third among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies. It ranks second in the world for the accountability of private institutions and third for financial market development, “indicating high confidence in South Africa’s financial markets at a time when trust is returning only slowly in many other parts of the world.