Oman slips 16 places in global competitiveness ranking

South Africa is nearly dead last among 140 countries in terms of its maths and science education, according to this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness report.

Its innovation score has also climbed five places, making it the most innovative country in the Sub-Saharan Africa region – above overall continent leader, Mauritius.

This comes as the ringgit continues to drop to its lowest since the 1998 Asian financial crisis and a widening political scandal affecting investor sentiment.

Italy lagged far behind Switzerland, which was ranked the most competitive country for the seventh consecutive year, while Germany ranked fourth and the United Kingdom 10th. Last year’s report, in which Egypt ranked 119, compared 144 countries. “Its business environment is welcoming to investment and [is] characterised by regulations that are easy to comply with (third), a fairly efficient labour market (11th) and the presence of sophisticated businesses (15th)”. The annual research covers 140 countries.

Mustapa said Malaysia is already heeding the WEF assessment that countries need to ensure higher productivity, nurture innovation, talent and entrepreneurship; and embrace long-term structural reforms to generate resilience for economic downturns.

“This dramatic reversal is largely attributable to the momentum initiated by the election of Narendra Modi, whose pro-business, pro-growth, and anti-corruption stance has improved the business community’s sentiment toward the government”, the group said in its report. Infrastructure – 72; Macroeconomic environment – 136; Health and primary education – 118; Higher education and training – 104; Goods market efficiency – 87; Labour market efficiency – 94; Financial market development – 76; Technological readiness – 96; Market size – 74. “Unless we break the traditional structures, not only will our competitiveness suffer, but our economic growth as well”. The list was topped by Switzerland. The WEF’s Global Competitive Report 2015-16 has challenged the Malcolm Turnbull’s government, making it vital for him to work on setting up a more competitive society when mining sector is regaining pace.

According to the WEF, Australia is ranked 23rd in the world for innovation, up two places from a year ago, and in 27th place overall for business sophistication.