Namibia competitive in Africa
Namibia has been ranked as one of the most competitive countries in Africa.
Ranked sixth on the continent, it comes in behind Mauritius, South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana and Morocco.
This is according to the 2017 Africa Competitiveness Report which was released during the World Economic Forum held in South Africa.
However the report notes that Namibia has over the past six years dropped about eight places in its global competiveness ranking. In 2012/13 the country ranked 92nd out of 144 countries, while currently it is ranked 84th out of 138 countries.
Analysing the results of 35 African economies included in the report it reveals that African competitiveness is still lower than in other regions and convergence has stagnated.
According to the report the major problems for doing business in Namibia is access to financing, an inadequate workforce and inefficient government bureaucracy.
Other problems that were highlighted in the report are the poor work ethic of the labour force of Namibia, corruption and inflation, tax rates and inadequate supply of infrastructure.
According to the report Namibia was rated fourth on the continent for financial market development and globally it ranked 79th.
For institutional quality it was also ranked fourth in Africa and was placed 39th globally.
“Southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, and South Africa) and Rwanda continue to lead the African ranking for institutional quality, all appearing in the upper half of the global rankings,” said the report.
Namibia also fared well in its rating for infrastructure, acquiring fourth place on the continent and 66th globally.
The report specifically says that transport infrastructure is well developed only in South Africa (30th); while in Morocco (47th), the second-best performer in Africa, it is already about 15% less sound than in that of the OECD average. OECD countries are a group of 35 developed countries belonging to an economic development framework programme.
“Namibia, Kenya, and Ghana, the 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-best African performers, have average scores that are 5 to 30% lower than the level attained by Morocco.”
The report says that over the past 10 years only South Africa and Botswana have managed to reduce the gap in transport infrastructure with the advanced economies.
It however says the quality of seaports and roads in some African countries perform relatively well: the quality of roads in Namibia and ports in South Africa is in line with average levels in advanced economies.
Furthermore Namibia was ranked third for its labour market efficiency in Africa while it was placed 32nd globally.
However Namibia did not rate very high when it came to its macroeconomic environment, health and primary education and higher education and training compared to other countries in Africa.
The poorest rating Namibia received was for its market size which on a global scale received 113rd place and with a dismal sore resulted in Namibia being placed at 23rd out of all the African countries.
In the areas of technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation Namibia fared moderately compared to other countries on the continent.
“African countries are not equipped to transition to a Fourth Industrial Revolution economy. Even the most tech-savvy countries in the region—South Africa (ranked 58th in ICT use), Mauritius (72nd), Botswana (83rd),
Namibia (96th), and Kenya (105th)—are still far behind the frontier in the adoption of ICT technologies.”
The report said Namibia is also best placed to achieve nominal benefits from low population growth and is less likely to encounter stress from rapid population growth. Population growth and basic requirements for competitiveness as set by the report suggest that a backwards relation exists between the projected working-age population growth towards 2035 and beyond.
ELLANIE SMIT
Ranked sixth on the continent, it comes in behind Mauritius, South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana and Morocco.
This is according to the 2017 Africa Competitiveness Report which was released during the World Economic Forum held in South Africa.
However the report notes that Namibia has over the past six years dropped about eight places in its global competiveness ranking. In 2012/13 the country ranked 92nd out of 144 countries, while currently it is ranked 84th out of 138 countries.
Analysing the results of 35 African economies included in the report it reveals that African competitiveness is still lower than in other regions and convergence has stagnated.
According to the report the major problems for doing business in Namibia is access to financing, an inadequate workforce and inefficient government bureaucracy.
Other problems that were highlighted in the report are the poor work ethic of the labour force of Namibia, corruption and inflation, tax rates and inadequate supply of infrastructure.
According to the report Namibia was rated fourth on the continent for financial market development and globally it ranked 79th.
For institutional quality it was also ranked fourth in Africa and was placed 39th globally.
“Southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, and South Africa) and Rwanda continue to lead the African ranking for institutional quality, all appearing in the upper half of the global rankings,” said the report.
Namibia also fared well in its rating for infrastructure, acquiring fourth place on the continent and 66th globally.
The report specifically says that transport infrastructure is well developed only in South Africa (30th); while in Morocco (47th), the second-best performer in Africa, it is already about 15% less sound than in that of the OECD average. OECD countries are a group of 35 developed countries belonging to an economic development framework programme.
“Namibia, Kenya, and Ghana, the 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-best African performers, have average scores that are 5 to 30% lower than the level attained by Morocco.”
The report says that over the past 10 years only South Africa and Botswana have managed to reduce the gap in transport infrastructure with the advanced economies.
It however says the quality of seaports and roads in some African countries perform relatively well: the quality of roads in Namibia and ports in South Africa is in line with average levels in advanced economies.
Furthermore Namibia was ranked third for its labour market efficiency in Africa while it was placed 32nd globally.
However Namibia did not rate very high when it came to its macroeconomic environment, health and primary education and higher education and training compared to other countries in Africa.
The poorest rating Namibia received was for its market size which on a global scale received 113rd place and with a dismal sore resulted in Namibia being placed at 23rd out of all the African countries.
In the areas of technological readiness, business sophistication and innovation Namibia fared moderately compared to other countries on the continent.
“African countries are not equipped to transition to a Fourth Industrial Revolution economy. Even the most tech-savvy countries in the region—South Africa (ranked 58th in ICT use), Mauritius (72nd), Botswana (83rd),
Namibia (96th), and Kenya (105th)—are still far behind the frontier in the adoption of ICT technologies.”
The report said Namibia is also best placed to achieve nominal benefits from low population growth and is less likely to encounter stress from rapid population growth. Population growth and basic requirements for competitiveness as set by the report suggest that a backwards relation exists between the projected working-age population growth towards 2035 and beyond.
ELLANIE SMIT
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