As a result of the economic recession facing Nigeria, it has slipped three places to 127th position in the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017 released yesterday, 28 of September, 2016, in Davos, Switzerland.
The report compiled by the World Economic Forum assessed the competitiveness landscape of 138 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.
The most competitive African country remained Mauritius which stands at 45th improved by one place and by South Africa at 47, Rwanda at 58, Botswana at 64, Namibia at 84, Kenya 96, War torn Cote d’Ivoire 99, Gabon 108, Ethiopia 109, Cape Verde 110, Senegal 112, Uganda 113, Ghana 114, and Tanzania 116.
This year’s edition highlights that declining openness is threatening growth and prosperity. It also highlights that monetary stimulus measures such as quantitative easing are not enough to sustain growth and must be accompanied by competitiveness reforms. Final key finding points to the fact that updated business practices and investment in innovation are now as important as infrastructure, skills and efficient markets.
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Switzerland, Singapore and the United States remain the three world’s most competitive economies.
“Declining openness in the global economy is harming competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive growth,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.
The Report series remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide
Nigeria’s economy has deteriorated since President Muhammaud took over power in May, 2015. As at yesterday, the nation’s currency hits N472 to a dollar at the parallel market as against the N196 it exchanged for almost a year ago, while it closed flat at N312.99 against the dollar at the interbank market.