World Economic Forums' Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006 Ranks Finland-1st, U.S-2nd, Sweden-3rd, Taiwan-5th, Singapore-6th, Australia-10th, Japan-12th, UK-13th, Canada-14th, Germany-15th, S. Korea-17th, UAE-18th, Qatar-19th, Malaysia-24th, Israel-27th, Spain-29th, France-30th, Kuwait-33rd, Thailand-36th, Bahrain-37th, Tunisia-40th, S. Africa-42nd, Jordan-45th, Greece-46th, Botswana-48th, India 50th, & Chad-117th last
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - Finland remains the most competitive economy in the world and tops the rankings for the third consecutive year (while INDIA is ranked 50th just below the African country of Botswana at 48th) in The Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006, released last week by the World Economic Forum, an independent Geneva-based, impartial not-for-profit, international organization.The World Economic Forum is tied to no political, partisan or national interests and was incorporated as a foundation in 1971. (www.weforum.org) It is committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
The World Economic Forum has been producing The Global Competitiveness Report for 26 years, and its unique mix of hard and soft data has made it possible to accurately capture the broad range of factors seen to be essential to a better understanding of the determinants of growth. Each year it has delivered a comprehensive overview of the main strengths and weaknesses in a large number of countries, making it possible to identify key areas for reform and policy formulation. The Forums flagship publication, The Global Competitiveness Report, has become the most authoritative and comprehensive assessment of national economies throughout the world. It is released every autumn/winter and its results are reported by national and international news organizations such as the BBC, Bloomberg, El PaÃs, Le Monde, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Newsweek, the Financial Times, Forbes, and many more
The Global Competitiveness Report is the longest running element of the Programme. which was first launched by the founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, in 1979, as a study of leading European economies. In addition to the data collected through the Executive Opinion Survey, the Report uses publicly available data from a number of sources, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations.This annual study is a valuable tool for shaping economic policy and guiding investment decisions. It is one of the leading monitors of the competitive condition of economies worldwide. Produced in collaboration with leading academics and a global network of 122 Partner Institutes. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic has said that, "The Global Competitiveness Report" is a contribution to enhancing our understanding of the key ingredients of economic growth and prosperity. By highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of an economy, policy-makers and business leaders are provided with a tool to assist them in the formulation of improved economic policies and institutional reforms."
The Global Competitiveness Report has expanded its geographic coverage over the years and now assesses 117 economies. (www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Growth+Competitiveness+Index+rankings+2005+and+2004+comparisons) The report is unique in that the methodology combines publicly available data with survey data that captures the perceptions and observations of business leaders in a given country.The Report contains a detailed country profile for each of the 117 economies featured in the study, providing a comprehensive summary of the overall position in the index rankings as well as a guide to what are considered to be the most prominent competitive advantages and competitive disadvantages of each. Also included is an extensive section of data tables with global rankings on over 100 indicators.
The rankings are drawn from a combination of hard data, publicly available for each of the economies studied, and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive assessment conducted by the World Economic Forum, together with its network of partner institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report. This year nearly 11,000 business leaders were polled in a record 117 economies worldwide. The survey questionnaire is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy's business environment that are key determinants of sustained economic growth. Particular attention is placed on elements of the macroeconomic environment, the quality of public institutions which underpin the development process, and the level of technological readiness and innovation. World Economic Forums' Growth Competitiveness Index rankings 2005 (with 2004 rank comparisons) of India and a few selected countries (out of the 117 surveyed) are as follows:-
Finland is first with the United States in second position, followed by Sweden (3rd), Denmark (4th), Taiwan (5th), Singapore (6th), Australia (10th), UK (13th), Canada (14th), New Zealand (16th), S. Korea (17th), United Arab Emirates-UAE (18th), Qatar (19th), Chile (23rd), Malaysia (24th), Israel (27th), Kuwait (33rd), Thailand (36th), Bahrain (37th), Tunisia (40th), Jordan (45th), Greece (46th), Botswana (48th), India (50th), Poland (51st), Egypt (53rd), Ghana (59th), Tanzania (71st), Serbia (80th), Vietnam (81st), Pakistan (83rd), Ukraine (84th), Georgia (86th), Nigeria (88th), Sri Lanka (98th), Dominican Republic (102nd), Bangladesh (110th), Cambodia (112th), Paraguay (113th), Kyrgyz Republic (116th) and Chad last at 117th.
South Korea showed the best performance in 2005 - out of 117 countries surveyed - by improving its (World Economic Forums' - Growth Competitiveness Index) overall rankings in 2005 to 17th from 29th in 2004 - a rise of 12 points. Tanzania in Africa showed the next best improvement. Tanzanias' 2005 ranking moved up to 71st from 82nd in 2004, an improvement of 11 points. The Dominican Republic, in the Carribean Sea, was the worst performer in 2005 having dropped to 102nd rank from its ranking of 72nd in 2004. Sri Lanka was the other bad performer in 2005. It dropped its ranking twenty five points to 98th from 73rd in 2004. The countries which showed marked improvement in their ranking for 2005 over their ranking in 2004 are as follws:- South Korea +12 to 17th; Tanzania +11 to 71st; Egypt +9 to 53rd; Poland +9 to 51st; Ghana +9 to 59th; Serbia +9 to 80th; PAKISTAN +8 to 83rd; Georgia +8 to 86th; Colombia +7 to 57th; Malaysia +7 to 24th; INDIA +5 to 50th; & Nigeria +5 to 88th.
Although INDIA could not match the 2005 rank improvement of third world countries in the World Economic Forums Growth Competitiveness Index 2005, like Tanzania, Egypt, Ghana, Pakistan and Malaysia, (which countries improved their ranking at a gallop by 11, 09, 09, 08 and 07 places respectively) it somehow did not do a standing march either, as it did in the UN's Human Development Report-2005, where it is stuck in the 127th rank for (http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_HDI.pdf) the past three years. India's small 5 point rank improvement in the World Economic Forums' report for 2005 will come to nought by the time the next World Economic Forum's annual report is released in September 2006 if the Indian rulers do not improve the climate of 'Doing business' in which activity India, according the World Banks' "Doing Business in 2006" report, has been ranked at 116th (out of 155 countries surveyed) below the World Bank ranking of every country in South Asia - Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Bhutan. (www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings/)
For us 25 million Sikhs, (22 million captive in the Indian map since 1947, and three million Sikhs free and prosperous in the diaspora) having experienced, for over half a century, the misrule and tyranny of the Dynastic Brahmin-caste-dominated Indian 'Castocracy', there is only one way out and that is to say good bye to the so-called Indian dis-Union and it its slow rate of progress the London Economist has called the Hindu rate of progreess. With India 'residing in the pits' in nearly every statistic we Sikhs should have no allusion about the dim future of our Homeland of Punjab.
We Sikhs should therefore, redouble our efforts to create a dynamic sovereign, independent, egalitarian, information technology savvy, buffer state of Khalistan, (where we can use and sell our river water, encourage our proverbial entrepreneurship, and God-given savvy for things technical, a la tiny Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel and Estonia) stretching from the Jumna River in the East to the Pakistan border on the West, Kashmir on the North and China on the North East. Buffer state Khalistan's geographic location, between India and Pakistan, will allow it to act as a bridge of peace and commerce between South and Central Asia and beyond.