Croatia fares poorly in the latest Global Competitiveness Report.
The most competitive economies in the world are Switzerland, Singapore and the United States, according to the latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, reports Index.hr on September 30, 2015. Croatia is the 77th most competitive country in the world. It is worrying that Croatia is at the bottom of the list of developing countries in Europe, below Poland, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary and Montenegro. In Europe, Albania and Serbia are the only developing countries ranked below Croatia.
The most competitive European countries are Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg. Slovenia has made significant progress, jumping from 70th to 59th position. Macedonia has jumped from 63th to 60th place, while Slovakia moved from last year’s 75th to 67th position.
Deputy prime minister Branko Grčić was surprised by the latest competitiveness rankings, which showed that Croatia is the 77th most competitive country in the world. “It is absurd that we did not improve on our competitiveness ranking. It is a phenomenon that needs to be investigated”, said Grčić.
A substantial progress would require structural reforms which are key to long-term sustainable economic development. This year’s results show a slight improvement in Croatian marks for higher education and training (51st position), labor market efficiency (105), technological readiness (43) and innovation (92), and a decline in the marks for the macroeconomic environment (107) and the development of financial market (88).
“Today’s world is introducing new technologies and is raising the level of transparency and efficiency. Our potential for improvement is significant and this gives us cause for optimism, but we lack the power to use it. We must rapidly catch up with the advanced countries if we want to significantly improve our position and ensure an increase in prosperity for our citizens. Croatia has failed to make significant progress in several key segments which makes us less competitive. Negative trends in macro-economic environment are a result of the fiscal deficit. We have not created conditions in which it is worth while to invest in Croatia. Analysis indicates that we are late in launching structural reforms which are important for economic progress. The end result should be an improvement in living standards of our citizens and their prosperity”, said Ivica Mudrinić, president of the National Competitiveness Council.
