South Africa’s improvement of seven pillars in the 2014/15 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index is an indication of the country’s collective efforts, says Brand South Africa.

The WEF index was released on Thursday and showed that the country has improved in seven of the 12 pillars in which countries are assessed.

South Africa has shown improvement in macroeconomic environment; health and primary education; higher education and training and business sophistication.

Improvement had also been seen in institutions, infrastructure and labour market efficiency.

“It is pleasing that South Africa has improved on these seven pillars. These speak to the success of South Africa’s collective efforts to create the conditions that will lead to improvements in the lives of the citizens of our country,” Brand South Africa CEO Miller Matola.

The pillars were aligned with the country’s National Development Plan (NDP) which is the country’s blueprint for eliminating poverty and reducing equality.                                                                       

“These improvements show that we are making strides in implementing this plan. We must collectively play our part to continue implementing this plan and improving our competitiveness,” said Matola.

The WEF report assesses the competitiveness of 144 economies and provides insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity.

The report remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide, providing a platform for dialogue between government, business and civil society about the actions required to improve economic prosperity.

However, South Africa’s performance in the report declined in some pillars including in the area of goods and market efficiency. The country declined in 11 of the 16 sub-pillars in this category which considerations that had impacted on the country include the effectiveness of anti-monopoly policies.
Performance also declined in technological readiness which was influenced primarily by the country’s broadband capabilities.

South Africa now ranks 56 of the 144 countries covered by the WEF Global Competitiveness Index having fallen from 53rd place in 2013/14.