Astana, Kazakhstan, Sept. 4
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Kazakhstan ranked 50th place in the Global Competitiveness Index 2014-2015 of the World Economic Forum that is published on the WEF website.
"Switzerland topped this year's ranking again," according to the report. "It has held a stable position for the past six years. Singapore, the U.S., Finland and Germany follow after Switzerland. According to the rating, Kazakhstan ranked 50th again with an average 4.4 points, holding the results of the previous year. Kazakhstan is in the group of the countries with a higher level of development. The factors of effectiveness and innovative development play a great role in the development in these countries."
There were 144 assessed countries (148 in the previous year) in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum in 2014-2015. Tajikistan returned to the ranking this year. Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Ecuador, and Liberia were not included.
The Global Competitiveness Index includes 114 indices, of which 34 are calculated on the basis of statistics data, and the rest on the estimations of the heads of medium and large enterprises. There are 12 factors of competitiveness among 114 indices. They characterize in detail the competitiveness of the world's countries at different levels of economic development.
All countries in the rating are distributed in line with the economic development phases. GDP per capita serves as a criterion for distribution of countries.
However, a second criterion is used to set the development stages for countries which are highly dependent on mineral resources, including Kazakhstan.
This criterion is defined in line with the share of raw material exports in total exports (goods and services) throughout the last five years.
The countries, with the raw material export standing at 70 percent or exceeding this level, belong to the first development category (factorial development phase).
In the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2014-2014, Kazakhstan holds a transitional stage between stage 2 (effective development stage) and stage 3 (stage of innovative development).
GCR methodology gradually gives a greater specific gravity to the components that play an increasingly important role in the country's competitiveness as the economy develops.
The components are grouped into three sub-indices, each of which plays a role at a certain stage of economic development: the sub-index "Basic requirements" - 37.7 percent (37.8 percent in the GCR 2013-2014), the sub-index "Efficiency factors" - 50 percent (50 percent in the GCR 2013-2014), the sub-index "Factors of innovation and complexity" - 12.3 percent (12.2 percent in the GCR 2013-2014).
WEF experts believe the labor market efficiency (15th place, 2013-15th) and the macroeconomic environment (27th place, 2013-23rd) are still Kazakhstan's competitive advantages.
Kazakhstan demonstrates the weakest position on such factors as health and primary education (96th place, 2013 - 97th), the development of the financial market (98th place, 2013 - 103rd), the competitiveness of companies (91 percent, 2013 - 94th) and innovation (85th place, 2013 - 84th).
Competitiveness of Kazakhstan on the remaining six factors estimated by the WEF is on average level: institutions - 57th place (2013 - 55th ), the infrastructure - 62nd place (2013 - 62nd ), higher education and training - 62nd place (in 2013 - 54th ), goods market efficiency - 54th place (2013 - 56th ), technological readiness - 61st place (2013 - 57th ) and the size of the market - 52nd place (2013 - 54th ).
The most dramatic jump occurred on the following parameters: the nature of competitive advantage (84th vs.118th in 2013), the availability of venture capital (47th vs.72nd ), favoritism in decisions of government officials (53rd vs.77th ), the number of days to start a business (62nd vs. 82nd ), the ease of obtaining credit (43rd vs. 61st ), infant mortality (81st vs. 98th ), the efficiency of taxation for investment (37th vs. 54th ), the quality of port infrastructure (123rd vs. 135th ).
The following factors saw dramatic decline: informal payments and bribes (80th versus 65th in 2013), inflation (107 versus 93), the coverage of secondary education (42 versus 29), transparency of decisions (40 versus 29), the dimension of trade barriers (63 versus 48, ), foreign direct investments and technology transfer (107 versus 93), government procurement of high-tech goods (74 versus 58).
Under the current conditions, competitiveness includes not only the macro-economic factors, but also the quality of the workforce and its ability to use innovations in practice. The high level of education is the significant driver of the national economy.
Experts from the Institute of Economic Research JSC believe that the most important factors of the growth of Kazakhstan's competitiveness are: the growth of the share of the private sector in GDP and creation of new jobs, adoption of innovations, developing the policy supporting competition in the market, improving the institutional system, labor productivity growth, attraction of direct foreign and domestic investment, as well as the expansion of domestic and foreign market.