Ghana Improves Competitiveness

Seth Terkper, Finance Minister 
Ghana has moved to the 111 th position on the Global Competitiveness Index published this year by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

This is largely as a result of slight improvement in the country’s macroeconomic indicators.

According to WEF, even though Ghana has moved from 114 th position in 2013 to 111 th this year, fiscal vulnerabilities still persist.

It said government deficit stood at 10.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013, twice the figure recorded two years ago, and government debt remains over 60 percent with inflation at over 11percent.

On the country’s strengths, WEF said public institutions were characterized by relatively high government efficiency and strong property rights.

In addition, it said the country’s financial and goods markets were also relatively well developed.

However, WEF said Ghana must do more to develop and deploy talent in the country, stating that ‘education levels continue to trail international standards at all levels; labour markets are characterized by inefficiencies and the country is not sufficiently harnessing new technologies for productivity enhancements (ICT adoption rates continue to be very low)’.

It said Ghana’s security situation, which also ranked 111th, remains a concern.

South Africa was ranked 56 th , Senegal 110, Cameroun 112, the Gambia 113 and Egypt 115.

Switzerland leads the pack, followed by Singapore, USA, Finland and Germany.

This year’s Global Competitiveness Report (GCI) provides an overview of the competitiveness performance of 144 economies. It is one of the most comprehensive assessments globally.

GCI scores are calculated by drawing together country-level data covering 12 categories-the pillars of competitiveness that collectively make up a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness.

The 12 pillars are: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.

By Cephas Larbi
[email protected]
 
 
 
 

Comments:
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.