3rd September, 2014
Despite rebasing it economy to become the biggest in Africa, Nigeria seems to be struggling globally as it slumped in the global competitiveness ranking released on Tuesday.
Nigeria slipped seven places from 120th position to 127th. According to the 2014-2015 Global Competitiveness Report, infrastructure (human and physical) continues to be Nigeria’s toughest challenges.
The report attributed the decline in Nigeria’s global competitiveness “to weakness in public finances (as a result of lower oil exports), continuing institutional frailty and deterioration in national security.”
Adding that the outcome is similarly mixed for other middle-income countries in the region.
While Nigeria is struggling smaller countries like Lesotho (107th) and Cape Verde (114th) registered the largest improvements, while Botswana (74th), Namibia (88th), Zambia (96th), Ghana (111th), Senegal (112th) and Swaziland (123rd) are relatively stable.
Among the oil-exporting economies, Gabon is the highest-ranked economy (106th) followed by Cameroon (116th), Angola (140th) and Chad (143rd).
Among Africa’s low-income economies, Ethiopia recorded the biggest leap, rising nine places to 118th.
The report stated that only three sub-Saharan countries – Mauritius (39th); South Africa (56th) and Rwanda (62nd) are in the top half of the world’s most competitive economies.