Pretoria - Brand South Africa has welcomed the 2015/16 results of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual Global Competitiveness Index which has seen South Africa rise seven places from 56 to 49 of 140 countries.
“Building a country’s competitiveness is a collective endeavour involving the collaboration of government, business and civil society. Ultimately it involves all South Africans to coalesce around this national objective,” said Brand South Africa’s Chief Executive Officer Kingsley Makhubela said on Wednesday.
The Index analyses the factors driving productivity and prosperity in 140 countries.
South Africa’s biggest improvements come in the areas of: infrastructure (up 8 places), health and primary education (up 6 places), labour market efficiency (up 6 places), technological readiness (up 16 places), and innovation (up 5 places).
South Africa has also improved in the areas of macro-economic environment (up 4 places), higher education and training (up 3 places), and business sophistication (up 2 places).
According to the report, South Africa has dropped in the area of institutions (down 2 places), goods market efficiency (down 6 places), financial market development (down 5 places) and market size (down 4 places).
“The results of the 2015/16 Global Competitiveness Index shows that South Africa has made significant improvements towards ensuring we are a globally competitive destination. The report resonates with our own assessment that we must work towards strengthening, amongst others, the education and health sectors to ensure our sustained competitiveness. The National Development Plan outlines the steps we need to take to achieve this,” explained Makhubela.
Makhubela thanked South Africans for their contribution to building South Africa’s competitiveness. – SAnews.gov.za
