The International Institute for Manager Development (IMD) has released its annual Competitiveness Report, ranking 61 countries, including South Africa, according to their ability to effectively compete on a global scale.<\/p>\n
In the 2016 iteration, South Africa managed to increase its ranking by one place – though the country remains at the lower-end of the list, out of sync with its population size and economic weight.<\/p>\n
The report is based on data from\u00a0international organizations (IMF, World Bank, etc) as well as private firms – with further information gained from surveys with top executives and managers.<\/p>\n
South Africa was ranked 52nd out of 61 countries, dragged down by its poor performance across 18 indicators where the country was ranked last or second last (60th or 61st).<\/p>\n
This is compared to the 6\u00a0indicators where South Africa ranked first or second.<\/p>\n
Notably, when measuring the key attractiveness factors for South Africa – which is based on responses from business leaders – not a single response was given in favour of government, where government competency scored a rating of exactly 0%.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the country’s legal framework (79.2%), levels of corporate governance (68.8%) and cost competitiveness (64.6%) were the most attractive features of the country.<\/p>\n
IMD’s analysis found that South Africa is the most affordable country to do business in out of all the country’s measured – and the country benefits from having highly developed financial systems.<\/p>\n
Across the report’s 340 criteria analysed, these are the 6\u00a0areas in which South Africa shows the most strength<\/strong>:<\/p>\n However, on the down side, South Africa’s weaknesses cannot be ignored – massive labour and health problems, coupled with high levels of pay disparity, inequality and a poor education system, drag the country down.<\/p>\n These are the 18 areas where South Africa performs the worst<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Which African country is next in line to overtake South Africa?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Will South Africa be junk by the end of June? Here\u2019s what to expect<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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More on South Africa<\/h3>\n