CAPE TOWN - South Africa's overall rankings declined from 47 to 61 in terms of global competitiveness, the World Economic Forum's Competitiveness Report for 2017-2018, released last week shown.
This report presents a framework and a corresponding set of indicators in three principal categories and twelve policy domains for 137 economies, this is according to WEF.
Many factors, both domestic and international can influence the results of global competitiveness for the countries involved at the time. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants notes that the WEF report is communicating a message that investor confidence in South Africa is declining.
SAICA Executive Director: Members and Global Alliance, Lindie Engelbrecht says recent revelations involving KPMG would not have influenced the current WEF results owing to their timing and timing of the research that was undertaken by WEF. It is understood that the survey was conducted between February and June 2017.
Engelbrecht further claims that the WEF report conveys a message that investor confidence in South Africa is declining due to declining ratings.
The Director and Chief Economist at Econometrix, Azar Jammine, points out the financial crisis that SA has been faced with as the key driver of such a decline in global rankings.
Placed at position number in the WEF report is Switzerland, with 8.3 million population and a GDP of US$659.9 billion.