Nigeria’s recession has seen the country drop three points to 127 in the recently released 2016 global competitiveness index. Nigeria has faced severe hit by the drop in commodity prices leading to a weaker macroeconomic environment.
The World Economic Forum defines competitiveness as “the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country”. The Global Competitiveness Index uses 12 indicators to determine the competitiveness of each country assessed. These indicators include institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education learning, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment rank fell 27 places while its financial sector dropped by 10 places. Nigeria was ranked the lowest (138th) in health and primary education, with only 63 percent of children enrolled in primary school, with poor quality and quantity of higher education and training (125th).
According to the report, government deficit has almost doubled since last year while national savings have significantly suffered. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s policies have affected Bank’s liquidity and also increased the difficulty for business in accessing finance. Nigeria’s underdeveloped infrastructure was ranked 132nd.
Mauritius led Sub-Saharan Africa as the most competitive country in the region but ranked 45th globally. South Africa came second in Sub-Saharan Africa at 47th while Rwanda was third climbing 6 places to 52nd.
Switzerland ranks as the most competitive economy in the world for the eighth consecutive year, narrowly ahead of Singapore and the United States. Netherland and Germany came fourth and fifth respectively.
