The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Zambia as one of the top 10 most competitive economies in Africa for 2013.
The WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 which was released in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday ranked Zambia as the seventh most competitive economy in Africa ahead of Kenya, Gabon and Senegal.
According to the report accessed in Lusaka yesterday, Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer, trails Namibia, Seychelles, Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa and Mauritius which were ranked as the most competitive economies in Africa.
Out of the 148 countries surveyed globally, Zambia moves from last year’s 102nd position to 93 as one of the countries which recorded remarkable progress.
The ranking was based on the Global Competitive Index which was introduced in 2004 and could be defined as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determined the level of productivity of a country.
Its 12 pillars were institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and colleges, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technology, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
“A number of African middle-income economies – Botswana (74th), Namibia (90th), Zambia (93rd), Senegal (113th), Lesotho (123rd) and Swaziland (124th) – improved, while oil-producing economies, Gabon (112th), Cameroon (115th) Nigeria (120th) and Chad (148th) – stagnated or declined in the ranking,” reads the report partly.
Among the low-income countries, Kenya made the biggest improvement, rising by 10 places to 96th position in the world.
Globally, Switzerland maintained its first position and so did Singapore and Finland on second and third positions, respectively.
Other countries in the world top 10 most competitive economies were Germany, United States of America (USA), Sweden, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Japan and the United Kingdom on 10th position.
“Overall, wide regional divergences remain, and a number of African economies continue to trail behind significantly, with 14 of its economies populating the bottom 20 of the ranking.
“Efforts across many areas are needed to place the region on a sustainable growth and development path, especially in infrastructure, health and basic education and adoption of the latest technologies,” the report says.
It places Switzerland at the pinnacle of the ranking for the fifth consecutive year.
Globally, excellent innovation and strong institutional environments were increasingly influencing the economies’ competitiveness.
The US continued to be a world leader in bringing innovative products and services to the global market and its rise in the ranking was due to a perceived improvement in the country’s financial market and great confidence in public institutions.
There, however, had been continued concerns over that vast country’s macroeconomic stability which ranked 117 out of 148 economies.
now go and ask a mbuya in shangombo about the same results
Just like you no one expects your mbuya to understand.
EXCELLENT, LOVELY, WONDERFULL, MAVERLOUS, BRILLIANT, WELLDONE PF. KEEP IT UP OUR HARD WORKING ‘KAPONYAS’. HATERS CAN NOW VOMIT. COME 2016, HH WILL SAY BYE TO THE POLITICAL ARENA. MAJOR ROADS WILL BE TIPTOP, TUKALASONTAPOFYE, THERE, HERE, ETC. SATA MWAUME BAMAMBALA IMWE. YOU THINK THE SMALL BOY HH CAN MATCH HIM? ACHEPA SANA.
HH wawa, wawa, wawa monko iwe. give respect to the cobra iwe. You get ka degree and you think you are educated? Sata will make a record you will never attain until you die. wait and see ka Satanist iwe. your hatred for the cobra will take you no where. tribalism will take you no where. just go back to your farm and continue with your wajeta ngombe. and where is this lawyer called Amsterdam? why has he disappeared? could it be he was informed that he was dealing with a crooked RB?
Wait a second! those are just words to a ordinary zambian on the street, they donot make sense..
In USA, Sweden, and other countries in europe when they say unemployment is high.. they mean its less that 10% but in zamba.. when you say unemployment has reduced it means that unemployment is standing at 65% … same on this one how do you rate Zambia 7th and be happy about it, when you still have 75% of people living on less than one dollar a month??
News that makes HH choke with envy.
does pipo in rural areas know about this? lets sk them about economy and find out! not ku sweden vipuba imwe!!
Your English is so bad brother and l dont expect you to understand basic economics.
Even the average european and american will not understand the basic economics, statistics are a play a major role in determining investor confidence and donor funds. So don’t be ignorant and talk from without
People in rural areas have no problems at all they grow their own food.This is good news may The Lord be praised.Zambia is heading for an Economic boom.
Rubbish! How does this play out in benefiting the poor? the zambian economy is on its kneels
Mmmhh,the better one amongst the worst lot? I’m not sure we should be measuring our country against the like of kenya,Rwanda or Niaja as a sign of progress. We should aim to be like Singapore or Malaysia.
There is always a starting point. Are you already sick with the progress PF is making?
GOOD RESULTS, PF IS WORKING AND BY THE END OF THE FIRST TERM ZAMBIA WILL BE NUMBER ONE
Let me know which century that will happen, i will be the first one to congratulate you with a reward!
if the ranking were poor you could have jumped and say the kaponyas.what kind of people are you?
@ Niza, aba bantu ba dabwisana indeed, always complaining even when they have received good news. Are some Zambians so allergic to development such that they have to find fault in every step forward? Awe mwandi chinjeni mwe bantu, this mentality of being against progress should surely come to an end.. Do not be enemies of progress, let us unite for the progress and development of mother Zambia..
You Southern Africa or Africa as a whole?
Enjoying the fruits of MMD hard work on the economy in the last 7 years
Which fruits Naimwe. If you have nothing to contribute just continue working or studying. PF has been in power for two years now. This period is long enough to destroy the economy if their policies are not workable. Did MMD ever make this record in the past 20 yrs while in power? Good Job PF
This is not a result two years of confusion this is as a result of many years of growth. BRAVO MMD!
Buuufii ubo iwe. just hang on and come and say the same things after 2 more years. this country is headed for better days and you cant take this away from PF.
20 years in power and MMD failed to prove anything. What do they have to show for it other than the corrupt practices, plundering of public resources, self enriched ex-leaders, and abject poverty? An exception to Levy Patrick Mwanawasa who was on the road to change only for some Zambian enemies of progress to eliminate him, what a shame.. Keep the good work P.F, we rally for the development of our country which will benefit every Zambian including those that are against development..
The pf gets kudos for continuing were mmd left,this fruit is mmd sweat.all schools,health centers in place were left by mmd.the fruits of pf are yet to be seen but sadly most of it is a debt as the two billion dollar is already blown out.
Zambia need to become an industrialize nation,that’s what I will call pragmatic development.
The reality on the ground is telling a diffrent story, it’s like being at the peak of the mountain trying to get a glimpse of tommorrow, you cant experience the next day without the elapse of the current day, so these figures are as usual another fabrication, just the poverty in Kwa kalingalinga is enough to disapprove this information, hard luck guys try next door, Cindy washes her face down up not the otherway round like most people!
awe mwandi cindy what you saying is true and unabias! Africans are always made to feel happy with numbers and words
Ha ha indeed if PF finishes all roads especially in Lusaka Compounds and other areas such as Kamwala south,Libala south then no need for Ba Sata to campaign.We the people gonna campaign for PF.What PF should do is to make sure that the township roads are done well and fast.The best is to give Chinese or Japanese contractors otherwise local contractors will make PF loose elections in 2016 because roads won’t be finished.Good example is Kabwe where local contractors are doing the raods.It’s pathetic indeed.Govt has just wasted money to give Zambians who are too corrupt and always fail to deliver. I can’t give local contractors to do roads especially in compounds.Ba Sata poseniko amano ku ma roads so that 2016 will be a walk over situation.But be careful with Winter Kabimba
Indeed, that is the way to go buddy
Zambia is regional leader! What is needed is proper public relations translate that into quantifiables. Bravo!!!
give us a break. this country is strugling. it can’t even afford a national airline. Zimbabwe is better than Zambia. they outshined us at the just ended UNWTO too.
Am so proud to be a Zambian. Keep it up ba Zed.
GO ZAMBIA GO PF FOR LIFE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DON’T KUBEBA
Why is credit being given to PF when PF are just reaping from where the MMD government left? As far as I am concerned, the only thing this current government is good at is conducting bye-elections, reacting to critics’ comments and witch hunting. We are going backwards instead of progressing. Just look at Rwanda, Angola and very soon Zimbabwe will bounce back and yet our country still looks as though there is civil war. Wake up PF brainwashed cadres!
Hang on a second! The report says last year Zambia was ranked 102 and this year is ranked 93. Didn’t know that MMD was in power last year
THIS GOOD PERFORMANCE AND POSITION DATES BACK TO THE FOUNDATION LAID BY LATE CHILUBA’S REGIME. HON. PENZA, LATE MTONGA, PROFESSOR MWEENE, GEDION NKOJO, AND MANY ECONOMISTS AND TECHNOCRATS IN BOTH GOVERNMENT AND THE DONOR COMMUNITY AT THE TIME AND OVER THE YEARS TO NOW INCLUDING THE PF GOVERNMENT.
Hang on a second! The report says last year Zambia was ranked 102 and this year is ranked 93. Didn’t know that MMD was in power last year
@ Emancipator, Lol.. Never mind him, some of these people were born damn..
THIS IS THE CHANGE WE WANTED GO PF WE WILL VOTE FOR YOU COME 2016 SATA NI ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
FOR SURE SATA NI ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
All these stats mean zero when the economy is stagnant, I mean the unemployment rate hovers in the stratosphere, the tax base is a meager 500,000 formally employed people, no appreciable growth since 1964. I shudder to think what may happen if suddenly we ran out of copper. It’s insane to ukushintilisha amatako on one commodity. All the happy stats are derived from the performance of this one metal, take it out and the nation would simply fold and collapse.
Excuse my ignorance, but can some nerdy economist out there enlighten me on what it means to be ranked most competitive economy? Is it competition with other countries for a rank or what? Is it where competition is the foundation of doing business? Are planned economies like China inferior to competitive ones like in this case Switzerland or Finland? What am I even asking? Damn, I’m confused.
What criteria do they use to come up with these rankings?? If what I’ve been reading is correct, i.e shortages of Medications, fuel, basic essentials, sub-standard hospitals, schools e.t.c, + high level corrupt practices seeping from the the top right down to the bucket, then I despair for our country, plus those below our rankings. Must be “Hell on Earth with a Good ranking”
All this is as s result of the strong base MMD left. What has pf done? just cosmetic changes. like it or not, this is the truth. Chikubabe.
Chile baba iwe wine. ifye we have achieved and we are yet to achieve more, how can it baba us? lol
Hang on a second! The report says last year Zambia was ranked 102 and this year is ranked 93. Didn’t know that MMD was in power last year
wel done zambia, hopefully we can achieve more in the near future. congrats to all zambians for ur contributions to the betterment of mother zambia.
BullSh!t,
Hong-Kong is not a country ….. quoting:Other countries in the world top 10 most competitive economies were Germany, United States of America (USA), Sweden, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Japan and the United Kingdom on 10th position.
Show me the money?????
JUST IMAGINE
50YERARS ON, AFTER KK, NO ONE EVER THOUGHT OF BUILDING NEW OR
UPGRADING ZAMBIA’S AILING INFRASTRUCTURE WHICH CREATES MILLIONS OF
JOBS AND WHOSE BEAUTY ATTRACTS INVESTORS.
I AM RESIDENT OVERSEAS,
DID YOU EXPECT ME TO COME HOME AND WALK
THROUGH THE FILTHY AND DUSTY STREETS OF LUSAKA!
MUDALA ULI MWAUME…YOUR VISION IS EVERYONE’S DREAM WORLD OVER.
YOUR START SO FAR IS SPORT ON – THE POOR SECTORS WILL SIMPLY FOLLOW.
@chikubabe
IF MMD SET THE TREND, THE SATA’S SON
SHOULD HAVE 100 BANK ACCOUNTS IN SINGAPORE.
If it is true then it is good although I am not convinced. As it is said, the supporters of this story are “using statistics for support just like a drunk person uses a lamp post for support rather than illumination.” If Zambia is ranked seventh in Africa then Africa must be a very backward continent.
At times its just good to fill a sense of pride that from the eyes of the world we are thus ranked. What is now needed is to see how work we need to do to move further up the ranks beginning with myself