Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, continued its downward spiral on the Global Competitive Index (GCI) as the country fell seven places to 127th position this year, from the 120th position it was last year.

The development was largely attributed to what the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015, which was made available exclusively to THISDAY by WEF, described as the country’s weakened public finances as a result of lower oil exports.

But commenting on the GCR, the Chief Executive Officer, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN), Mr. Chika Mordi, who spoke to THISDAY, faulted the rankings, pointing out that the report, which referred to Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, used the old GDP figures in its calculations. This, according to him, worsened the nation’s position.

Continuing, the GCR pointed out that institutions in Nigeria remained weak with a ranking of 129 out of 144. Other factors that led to the country’s drop in the GCR were insufficiently protected property rights, high corruption, and undue influence.

In addition, it stated that the deterioration in national security in Nigeria, which was also ranked 139 out of 144, remained dire.

“Nigeria must continue to upgrade its infrastructure (134th) as well as improve its health and primary education (143rd). Furthermore, the country is not harnessing the latest technologies for productivity enhancements, as demonstrated by its low rates of ICT penetration,” it stated.

However, on the upside, the report noted that Nigeria benefits from its relatively large market size (33rd out of 144), which bears the potential for significant economies of scale; a relatively efficient labour market (40th out of 144) driven by its flexibility (20th out of 144).

Furthermore, the GCR also acknowledged the country’s solid financial market (67th out of 144), following its gradual recovery from the 2009 crisis.
“However, poor availability and affordability of finance in general and the difficulties in obtaining loans in particular (137th) remain an important bottleneck to economic growth.
“Ahead of the 2015 election cycle, it will thus be critical to keep the ongoing reform momentum to diversify the economy and increase the country’s long-term competitiveness,” it added.

Overall, Switzerland emerged top on the ranking for the sixth consecutive year, and was closely followed by Singapore, USA, Finland and Germany in that order.

However, in Africa, Mauritius which was ranked 39th in the GCI reaffirmed its position as the continent’s most competitive economy.

But South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy, also dropped to 56th on the index. South Africa, according to the report, is now the third most competitive BRICS economy after China (28th) and Russia (53rd).
African economies enjoyed mixed success in their attempts to become more competitive, according to the GCR.

Other countries ranked on the index were Lesotho (107th), Cape Verde (114th), Botswana (74th), Namibia (88th), Zambia (96th), Ghana (111th), Senegal (112th) and Swaziland (123rd).

Among the oil-exporting economies, Gabon was the highest-ranked economy (106th) followed by Cameroun (116th), Nigeria, Angola (140th) and Chad (143rd).

Among Africa’s low-income economies, the most improved was Ethiopia, which recorded the biggest leap, rising nine places to 118th.

The report stated that despite years of bold monetary policy, global economic growth remained at risk as several countries struggled to implement growth-boosting structural reforms.

Commenting on Nigeria’s ranking, Mordi said the reasons adduced for the deteriorating rankings were Boko Haram and weaker institutions, an assertion he argued was “profoundly rebutted by our Ebola containment relative to countries ranked at par or better than us”.

“Poorer public finance, again a jaundiced opinion, as our public finances are stronger with lower deficit financing, fiscal restraint, a stable currency and single digit inflation, in contrast with Ghana whose currency is in free fall and debt has skyrocketed.
“Yet Ghana has an improved score on the same parameter; and weak health and primary education where we ranked the second worst in the world. Do you truly believe that?,” he asked.

Although he acknowledged that a high GCI ranking was good to have, he said it remains an opinion.

Mordi insisted that the most important opinion was that of the investment community and the reality of the country’s position.

He explained: “In this year’s World Street Journal survey of multinational CEOs, Nigeria ranked first as an emerging market investment destination. Investors vote with their wallet and Nigeria’s FDI remains the highest in Africa.

“Finally, the WEF GCI is a lagging indicator and does not reflect the actions taken this year. We expect an improvement and better allignment with reality in subsequent years as the NCCN, which came into full operations nine months ago has taken fundamental steps and put building blocks in place to improve our competitiveness.

“The most significant of these steps is a brain trust of 56 of the brightest minds and practitioners in Nigeria. They commenced work in April and include leading businessmen, CEOs of large corporates, CEOs and partners of the top multinational consulting firms, leading academics and regulators.”

The GCR’s rankings are based on the GCI, which was introduced by WEF in 2004.

Competitiveness includes the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. GCI scores are calculated by drawing together country-level data in 12 categories – the “pillars of competitiveness” – to create a comprehensive picture of a country’s economic performance.

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


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-drops-to-127th-place-on-the-global-competitive-index/188054/

Still reading

Ok

Fp....signs of gud tinzz to cme.....
na APC cause am joor....

all this bullshit ranking is non of my business,i just wana see Goodluck as president in 2015

Jonathan!

yea

instead of us to be moving forward we are moving backwards.
even countries like Lesotho, Cape Verde, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Ghana,
Senegal and Swaziland are all ahead of us On the Global Competitive Index. Smh

I said it, jonathan has finally destroyed Nigeria

The incoming Administration of Buhari would have to hit the ground running immediately he is sworn in, in repairing Nigeria as battered by jonathan!

wow, that's so nice, our president gej till Jesus comes

.

1United1: I said it, jonathan has finally destroyed Nigeria

The incoming Administration of Buhari would have to hit the ground running immediately he is sworn in, in repairing Nigeria as battered by jonathan!

Anyman that canbe the messiah.. even if hes from serbia and fhjddfjmkyssdv

Waiting patiently for Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and the rest of her incompetent team to counter this.

GEJ till 2015!

ichidodo: A minor blip...that's all.

Minor blip? We fell seven places to 127th! Yes 127th! How many countries are in the world?

What you expect people when you don't have basic amenities fixed. Steady Light, Water,Good road,rail lines to transport containers easily,an identity system, ecetra ..ecetra.. We need to fix this position to encourage investors if not nobody go show.

All due to over-reliance on oil.

Oil does not make countries strong (unless they have populations less than 15 million, and/or have strong industrial base)

To keep Nigeria competitive....is a task that can be done....by going industrial!

Wetin em xpect b4.abeg madam u get hot monkey pepper soup..!!!

agriculture is the key

ichidodo: A minor blip...that's all.

I no blame u

Ok

1United1: I said it, jonathan has finally destroyed Nigeria

The incoming Administration of Buhari would have to hit the ground running immediately he is sworn in, in repairing Nigeria as battered by jonathan!

to hell with that bastard call buhari.


Gej till buhari confess of being boko sponsor

Ehn EHN...




Okay I dey Come

On other bright side, we beta pass other 60 something countries.

what a country we live in...

1United1: Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, continued its downward spiral on the Global Competitive Index (GCI) as the country fell seven places to 127th position this year, from the 120th position it was last year.

The development was largely attributed to what the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2015, which was made available exclusively to THISDAY by WEF, described as the country’s weakened public finances as a result of lower oil exports.

But commenting on the GCR, the Chief Executive Officer, National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria (NCCN), Mr. Chika Mordi, who spoke to THISDAY, faulted the rankings, pointing out that the report, which referred to Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, used the old GDP figures in its calculations. This, according to him, worsened the nation’s position.

Continuing, the GCR pointed out that institutions in Nigeria remained weak with a ranking of 129 out of 144. Other factors that led to the country’s drop in the GCR were insufficiently protected property rights, high corruption, and undue influence.

In addition, it stated that the deterioration in national security in Nigeria, which was also ranked 139 out of 144, remained dire.

“Nigeria must continue to upgrade its infrastructure (134th) as well as improve its health and primary education (143rd). Furthermore, the country is not harnessing the latest technologies for productivity enhancements, as demonstrated by its low rates of ICT penetration,” it stated.

However, on the upside, the report noted that Nigeria benefits from its relatively large market size (33rd out of 144), which bears the potential for significant economies of scale; a relatively efficient labour market (40th out of 144) driven by its flexibility (20th out of 144).

Furthermore, the GCR also acknowledged the country’s solid financial market (67th out of 144), following its gradual recovery from the 2009 crisis.
“However, poor availability and affordability of finance in general and the difficulties in obtaining loans in particular (137th) remain an important bottleneck to economic growth.
“Ahead of the 2015 election cycle, it will thus be critical to keep the ongoing reform momentum to diversify the economy and increase the country’s long-term competitiveness,” it added.

Overall, Switzerland emerged top on the ranking for the sixth consecutive year, and was closely followed by Singapore, USA, Finland and Germany in that order.

However, in Africa, Mauritius which was ranked 39th in the GCI reaffirmed its position as the continent’s most competitive economy.

But South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy, also dropped to 56th on the index. South Africa, according to the report, is now the third most competitive BRICS economy after China (28th) and Russia (53rd).
African economies enjoyed mixed success in their attempts to become more competitive, according to the GCR.

Other countries ranked on the index were Lesotho (107th), Cape Verde (114th), Botswana (74th), Namibia (88th), Zambia (96th), Ghana (111th), Senegal (112th) and Swaziland (123rd).

Among the oil-exporting economies, Gabon was the highest-ranked economy (106th) followed by Cameroun (116th), Nigeria, Angola (140th) and Chad (143rd).

Among Africa’s low-income economies, the most improved was Ethiopia, which recorded the biggest leap, rising nine places to 118th.

The report stated that despite years of bold monetary policy, global economic growth remained at risk as several countries struggled to implement growth-boosting structural reforms.

Commenting on Nigeria’s ranking, Mordi said the reasons adduced for the deteriorating rankings were Boko Haram and weaker institutions, an assertion he argued was “profoundly rebutted by our Ebola containment relative to countries ranked at par or better than us”.

“Poorer public finance, again a jaundiced opinion, as our public finances are stronger with lower deficit financing, fiscal restraint, a stable currency and single digit inflation, in contrast with Ghana whose currency is in free fall and debt has skyrocketed.
“Yet Ghana has an improved score on the same parameter; and weak health and primary education where we ranked the second worst in the world. Do you truly believe that?,” he asked.

Although he acknowledged that a high GCI ranking was good to have, he said it remains an opinion.

Mordi insisted that the most important opinion was that of the investment community and the reality of the country’s position.

He explained: “In this year’s World Street Journal survey of multinational CEOs, Nigeria ranked first as an emerging market investment destination. Investors vote with their wallet and Nigeria’s FDI remains the highest in Africa.

“Finally, the WEF GCI is a lagging indicator and does not reflect the actions taken this year. We expect an improvement and better allignment with reality in subsequent years as the NCCN, which came into full operations nine months ago has taken fundamental steps and put building blocks in place to improve our competitiveness.

“The most significant of these steps is a brain trust of 56 of the brightest minds and practitioners in Nigeria. They commenced work in April and include leading businessmen, CEOs of large corporates, CEOs and partners of the top multinational consulting firms, leading academics and regulators.”

The GCR’s rankings are based on the GCI, which was introduced by WEF in 2004.

Competitiveness includes the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. GCI scores are calculated by drawing together country-level data in 12 categories – the “pillars of competitiveness” – to create a comprehensive picture of a country’s economic performance.

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


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-drops-to-127th-place-on-the-global-competitive-index/188054/

. This is caused by the challenges we are facing right now,we re still going to be among top 10. God bless Nigeria!

ok

a beg click my signature

This new trend of nigerian public office holders rejecting any publication that does not favour them is very bad,they think Nigerians are fools,well some really are,one poverty stricken animal will come hear now to say APC that,or PDP that.

Hmm, this isn't looking good for Nigeria... Although as much as I am inching to disregard this report, I have to agree with some of its components. Nigeria has had negative than positive influence, there's corruption in Nigeria since 1960. We are growing at a fast pace but not developing at the same pace..

How to get competitive....or how to get rid of Dutch disease (from WikiPedia!)..

Minimization

There are two basic ways to reduce the threat of Dutch disease: by slowing the appreciation of the real exchange rate and by boosting the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. One approach is to sterilize the boom revenues, that is, not to bring all the revenues into the country all at once, and to save some of the revenues abroad in special funds and bring them in slowly. In developing countries, this can be politically difficult as there is often pressure to spend the boom revenues immediately to alleviate poverty, but this ignores broader macroeconomic implications.

Sterilisation will reduce the spending effect, alleviating some of the effects of inflation. Another benefit of letting the revenues into the country slowly is that it can give a country a stable revenue stream, giving more certainty to revenues from year to year. Also, by saving the boom revenues, a country is saving some of the revenues for future generations. Examples of these sovereign wealth funds include the Australian Government Future Fund, the Government Pension Fund in Norway, the Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund of Alberta, Canada, and the Future Generations Fund of the State of Kuwait established in 1976. Recent talks led by the United Nations Development Programme in Cambodia – International Oil and Gas Conference on fueling poverty reduction – point out the need for better education of state officials and energy cadres linked to a possible Sudden Wealth Fund to avoid the Resource curse (Paradox of plenty)

Another strategy for avoiding real exchange rate appreciation is to increase saving in the economy in order to reduce large capital inflows which may appreciate the real exchange rate. This can be done if the country runs a budget surplus. A country can encourage individuals and firms to save more by reducing income and profit taxes. By increasing saving, a country can reduce the need for loans to finance government deficits and foreign direct investment.

Investments in education and infrastructure can increase the competitiveness of the lagging manufacturing or agriculture sector. Another approach is government protectionism of the lagging sector, that is, increase in subsidies or tariffs. However, this could worsen the effects of Dutch Disease, as large inflows of foreign capital are usually provided by the export sector and bought up by the import sector. Imposing tariffs on imported goods will artificially reduce that sector's demand for foreign currency, leading to further appreciation of the real exchange rate.[8]