World Economic Forum publishes its latest global competitiveness rankings.
The Swiss economy is still the most competitive in the world, while Croatia improved its position from 77th to 74th on the list which includes 138 countries, announced on Wednesday the World Economic Forum, reports Poslovni.hr on September 28, 2016.
In its latest report, the World Economic Forum warns that the growth of trade barriers, which reduces trade openness, poses a risk to the growth of economies and innovation. “Reduction of openness in the global economy is undermining the competitiveness and hampers the leaders to keep sustainable, inclusive growth”, said Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the WEF. The report also warns that quantitative easing and other monetary policy measures have proven to be insufficient to stimulate long-term growth in the developed economies.
Croatia has made progress from last year’s 77th position to 74th, with an average score of 4.1, which is the same as last year. By comparison, the most competitive country, Switzerland, received an average rating of 5.8 out of 7.
This year’s list shows that Croatia has improved in six areas: macroeconomic environment, higher education, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, market size, and business sophistication. Its rankings have remained the same in terms of institutions and infrastructure. On the other hand, Croatian rankings deteriorated in health and primary education, development of financial markets, technological readiness, and innovations.
According to a survey among business people, the greatest difficulties in doing business in Croatia are inefficient administration, tax rates and regulations, as well as political instability and corruption.
Of the countries in the region, Slovenia is best placed at 56th position, while Macedonia slid from 60th to 68th place. It is followed by Hungary, which is 69th, while Montenegro slid from 70th to 82nd position, behind Albania, which is at 80th position. Serbia has advanced from 94th to 90th position, while Bosnia and Herzegovina advanced from 111th to 107th position on the latest rankings of the World Economic Forum.
Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday that the government could not be fully satisfied with the improvement of Croatia. “We should not be satisfied with the pace of progress”, said Marić ahead of a cabinet meeting.
