The World Economic Forum has released its 2014‐2015 Global Competitiveness Report in which Rwanda has been flagged again as the most competitive economy in Eastern Africa and 18th in terms of best structured institutions globally.

Overall, Rwanda came 62nd out of the 144 countries analyzed. Kenya took the second position for competitiveness in Eastern Africa, and ranked 90th worldwide. Mauritius took the 39th position while South Africa ranked 56th in the world.

Globally, Switzerland took the foremost slot, Singapore and the United States came in as 2nd and 3rd worldwide while Finland and Germany were 4th and 5th respectively.

Two Asian economies made the top ten, Japan ranked 6th and Hong Kong took the 7th position.

The Global Competitiveness Report is released annually to provide in‐depth assessments of national competitiveness from a global perspective; this year’s report considers 144 economies emphasizing the drivers of their competitiveness and productivity.

Rwanda, according to the report, showed some impressive performance in many respects. It’s macroeconomic environment scored 4.6 out of 7.0, financial markets scored 4.3 while both primary education and health hit the 5.5 marker on the same scale.

Less performing areas were infrastructure (3.1), technological readiness (3.1), business sophistication (3.8) and innovation (3.5).

Rwanda continues to show lots of promise in the Eastern African region, moving up four slots from the 66th position historically to the present 62nd position worldwide. With the recent massive influx of investments into building infrastructure in Africa, Rwanda should be better empowered to build on its weakest areas and compete more favourably on a global scale.

By Emmanuel Iruobe