Nepal improves competitiveness ranking

Though, the lengthening political transition has dampened the hopes of investors, the country has improved its competitive raking.

Nepal has improved its global competitiveness ranking to 117th position – with a score of 3.66 out of seven – out of 148 economies, the according to the Global Competitiveness Index 2013-14 (GCI) published today by World Economic Forum (WEF).

Lat year the country was ranked 125^th among the 144 economies. Compared to the last year’s economies only that 144, Nepal ranks 114 this year, revealed the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) – also a barometer for the investors to gauge the investment climate of individual countries – that is measured on 12 categories of economic competitiveness.

The ranking calculated on the basis of 12 categories – institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation – are further divided into 112 sub-indicators to map the competitiveness of a country.

Nepal has improved only in three – macroeconomic environment, health and primary education and financial market development – of the 12 pillars.

The improvement in the three pillars will however not help sustain the competitiveness ranking without visible improvements in key sectors like infrastructure, labour market efficiency, technological readiness and business sophistication and innovation.

Of the 148 economies, Nepal ranks 144^th in infrastructure, whereas it is ranked 146th in cooperation in labour-employer relations under the labour market efficiency pillar.

Likewise, the country ranks 125^th in hiring and firing practices, down from last year’s 105^th as the government-labour organisations and private sector are still not able to agree on hire and fire opposed by the hardliner communists political parties.

The global report has also identified government instability as one of the most problematic factors for doing business in Nepal, followed by corruption and inefficient government bureaucracy.

Similarly, the GCI also revealed that public trust in the politicians is at its lowest as the country ranks 142^nd in public trust of politicians.

The index also revealed government spending as one of the waste as Nepal is in the 105^th position in the wastefulness in government spending.

As always, the private sector still feels legal framework for settling business disputes insufficient and worsened, as the country is positioned at 123^rd in the efficiency of the legal framework in settling disputes from last year’s 113 last year.

The report revealed that India (60), Sri Lanka (65), Bhutan (109) and Bangladesh (110) are more competitive economies – than Nepal – in South Asia, whereas Pakistan (133) trails behind Nepal.

Likewise, Switzerland with 5.67 score is the world's most competitive country, according to WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14, followed by Singapore (5.61), Finland (5.54), Germany (5.51), and US (5.48).

The report also revealed that the US was able to reverse its four-year downward trend, rising by two positions to take fifth place this year overtaking the Netherlands and Sweden.

China is ranked 29th, leading the five BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa – economies, whereas Chad (148), Guinea (147), and Burundi (146) are the least competitive economies among the 148 listed in the index represents a comprehensive tool that measures the micro-economic and macro-economic foundations of national competitiveness.

Nepal ranks at bottom in Global Energy Architecture Performance Index

With a score of 0.39 out of one, the country ranked at the bottom — at 101st out of 105 countries — in the Global Energy Architecture Performance Index 2013 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Despite caretaker prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai's tall claims of reducing load-shedding hours, the country is reeling under acute power shortage of 10 hours per day that has bled the industries blue. "Industries are underutilising their production capacity," according to the central bank's report that has revealed that industries are utilising only 58 per cent of their capacity, largely due to the chronic power shortage.

The contribution of the industrial sector has dropped drastically to under six per cent to gross domestic product (GDP).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected the country's growth rate at 3.8 per cent for the current fiscal year due to increasing power cuts, erratic rainfall, and the government's inability to provide fertilisers during the harvesting season.

The Global Energy Architecture Performance Index is composed of three sub-indices — economic growth and development, environment sustainability, and energy access and security.

The country ranked 89 — among 105 countries — in economic growth and development that is measured on the basis of energy intensity, cost of energy imports, share of mineral products in export, and a combination of GDP per capita and Human Development Index (HDI).

Likewise, Nepal ranked 13 in environment sustainability that is measured through carbon intensity of energy use, share of non-carbon energy sources in the energy mix, levels of outdoor air pollution, and water scarcity, whereas the country ranked at the bottom at 103 in energy access and security that is measured on the basis of import dependence, diversity of supply, quality of electricity supply and access to modern forms of energy.

The index benchmarks and ranks 105 countries globally on how well their energy system delivers economic growth and development, environmental sustainability, and energy security and access.

In a changing global energy landscape, countries are seeking ways to manage the transition to new energy systems that better deliver on these core goals. The index offers a tool for decision makers to monitor the performance of their energy system and a basis for assessing areas to improve on.

The index revealed the poor state of energy security and access in the country. It has further reinforced the argument that the country needs to urgently ramp up investments in energy generation, basically in large hydropower projects to achieve faster and inclusive economic growth and a competitive economic base.

The country is claimed to have huge hydropower potential that would fuel economic growth by supporting industrialisation and generating huge employment. Demand for energy has been increasing at 12 per cent every year, but it has been able to generate around 700 MW only against a demand of 1,200 MW in the dry season.

Nepal ranks at the bottom five with Mozambique (102), Lebanon (103), Tanzania (104) and Ethiopia (105), according to the index that has listed Norway, Sweden, France, Switzerland and New Zealand as the top five.

Weak infrastructure hits country's competitiveness, Nepal ranks 125 among 144 economies in Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13

The government's low priority in infrastructure development — that is directly related to productivity — has made the country less competitive.

"Weak infrastructure has made Nepal less competitive among the 144 global economies, and the country ranked 125 with a score of 3.5 in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13," according to a report of the World Economic Forum released globally today.

Last year, Nepal ranked 125 among 142 economies, and this year too, it is ranked 125 among 144 economies, said country coordinator of the report Prof Dr Ramesh Chitrakar.

The country scored worst in infrastructure — one among the 12 pillars that gauge the country's competitive strength — with a score of 1.8, ranking at 143, second from the bottom. "Under infrastructure, there are nine components — quality of overall infrastructure, roads, railroad infrastructure, port infrastructure, air transport infrastructure, airlines seat kms/week, electricity supply, mobile telephone subscription, and fixed telephone lines/100 people — and Nepal's score was not satisfactory in any of them," he said, adding its performance was poor in the quality of electricity supply, ranking at 143 position.

Nepal could neither perform well in basic infrastructure nor in the efficiency enhancer as the country is lacking in making the right mix of goods and services for its exports, and availability of financial services is still difficult despite the rising number of banks and financial institutions.

But Nepal fared well in the macroeconomic environment, and health and primary education that has helped the country retain the same rank this year too.

Among the four pillars under 'Basic Requirements', two — institutions (rank 123) and infrastructure (rank 143) — performed poorly and two — macroeconomic environment (rank 56) and health and primary education (rank 109) — are satisfactory.

However, among the six pillars under 'Efficiency Enhancers', all of them — higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technology readiness and market size — performed poorly.

Similarly, the country could not improve in 'Innovation and Sophistication Factors' that has two pillars –– business sophistication and innovation.

As Nepal falls under the factor driven economy, basic requirements gets 60 per cent, efficiency enhancers gets 35 per cent, and innovation and sophistication factors gets five per cent weightage in the overall scoring, said Chitrakar.

He added that there are three categories — factor driven economy like Nepal, efficiency driven country and innovation driven country — based on their per capital, exports of goods, innovation and market efficiency, according to the Global Competitiveness Report.

The report revealed Switzerland as the most competitive country for the fourth consecutive year, this year too. Singapore remains in the second position, whereas Finland improved to become third overtaking Sweden.

The US continued to decline for the fourth year in a row falling two places to seventh position, though it still remains a strong global innovation powerhouse, and its markets work efficiently.

The study by the World Economic Forum ranked 144 countries by examining 113 indicators culled from official data sources and a poll of 15,000 executives who opined on the country where they do business.

 

South Asian ranking

India — 59

Sri Lanka — 68

Bangladesh — 118

Pakistan — 124

Nepal — 125

Top 10

Switzerland

Singapore

Finland

Sweden

Netherlands

Germany

United States

United Kingdom

Hong Kong SAR

Japan

Bottom 10

Burundi (144)

Sierra Leone (143)

Haiti (142)

Guinea (141)

Yemen (140)

Chad (139)

Mozambique (138)

Lesotho (137)

Timor-Leste (136)

Swaziland (135)

Nepal scores less in global ICT report

Nepal ranked 128th — among 142 economies — scoring 2.92 in the Global Information Technology Report released today.
With a score of 2.97 Nepal was ranked 131st among 138 economies in the last year's report. Other South Asian countries like India ranked at 69, Sri Lanka at 71, Pakistan at 102 and Bangladesh at 113 are ahead of Nepal, according to the 'Global Information Technology Report 2012: Living in a Hyperconnected World'.
The 441-page report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) used a broad range of measures to rank countries on the success of their overall efforts to use such ICT technology to improve business, government and the lives of individuals.
"The digital divide persists between developed and developing countries, even in regions like Europe," according to the report that examined the success of 142 countries in using information and communications technology to boost economic competitiveness.
ICT is a key precondition for enhanced competitiveness and economic and societal modernisation of nations, as well as an instrument for bridging economic and social divide and reducing poverty. Hence ICT transformation is an absolute necessity for developing countries like Nepal.But the country has scored less this year compared to last year.
At the top of the list are advanced economies like Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, US, Canada and Britain. At the bottom are many countries in sub-Saharan Africa as well as Nepal, Syria, East Timor and Haiti.
"Despite all the efforts that has seen in the past, the digital divide still exists between developing countries and developed countries," associate director of the World Economic Forum's Center for Global Competitiveness and Performance Benat Bilbao-Osorio, who co-authored the report said, adding that the digital divide can be observed at the regional level too.
Despite extensive work by developed countries to help boost information and communications technologies infrastructure in developing economies, a serious digital divide still exists, according to research by the World Economic Forum.
The report attempted to measure the transformational impacts of ICT on the economy and society.
"Hyperconnectivity is redefining relationships between individuals, consumers and enterprises, citizens and state, and we are beginning to see fundamental transformations in all areas of the economy and society," chief business officer at the WEF Robert Greenhill said, adding that traditional organisations and industry infrastructures are facing challenges as industries converge. "It will inevitably have consequences for policy and regulation as regulators will have to mediate the blurring lines between sectors and industries and will be obligated to oversee more facets in a pervasive way."
The report also showed that ICT deficiencies tend to mirror the trends in economic performance in general.
Each year, the WEF ranks countries on the basis of how they adopt and implement information technology across their economies. The findings are published in the Global Information Technology Report.
The Networked Readiness Index uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum with its network of partner institutes in the countries included in the report.

Nepal improves score, ranking in competitiveness

Nepal improved its score to 3.47 to climb up to 125th position — among 142 economies — from last year's score of 3.36 and 130th position among 139 economies.
According to the Global Competitive Report 2011-12 released today by World Economic Forum globally, the country has improved in macroeconomic environment and health, though its needs to have a lots of improvements in institutions and infrastructures — the two key pillars of the index among the 12 pillars based upon which the score is calculated.
"However, Nepal still falls under factor driven country category that needs to focus on first four pillars — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment and health and primary education," said national coordinator of the WEF survey team in Nepal Prof Ramesh Chitrakar.
Under the first pillar — institutions — government's attitude towards market also plays key role and under second pillar — infrastructure — market integration to reduce cost to the market is key, which has pulled Nepal’s overall score.
"The importance of pillar and focus depends on the stage of the country," he said, adding that the per capita income and mineral exports decide the category.
There are 37 economies like Nepal that fall under the factor driven category that have their per capita income below $2,000. The economies that have between $3,000 and $8,999 per capita income fall under efficiency driven category which has 28 countries and the economies that have over $17,000 per capita income fall under the innovative driven category that has 35 countries.
Nepal's GDP stands at $15.8 billion with $562 per capita income, according to the report.
The report has identified government instability, inefficient government bureaucracy, policy instability, corruption and inadequate supply of infrastructure as five most problematic factors for doing business, which was similar to last year’s report.
The Global Competitiveness Report’s competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed for the World Economic Forum by Sala-i-Martin and introduced in 2004.
The GCI comprises 12 pillars — institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation — of competitiveness that together provide a comprehensive picture of a country’s competitiveness landscape.
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey — a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum with its network of Partner Institutes. "In Nepal, (Centre for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA) is the partner that has been releasing the report since 2006.
This year, over 14,000 business leaders were polled in a record 142 economies. In Nepal some 103 small (with less than 20 employees), medium (between 20 and 50 employees) and large (with over 50 employees) industries were polled for the survey that is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate.
As usual Switzerland still leads the world in competitiveness because of innovation and labour market efficiency, whereas Singapore came second and Sweden third. The United States ranked fifth, falling for the third year in a row. The United States has good universities, is strong in research and development and has a big economy and a flexible workforce, the report said, adding that the business community, however, continues to be critical toward public and private institutions.

The South Asian ranking
Sri Lanka — 52
India — 56
Bangladesh — 108
Pakistan — 118
Nepal — 125

Young Global Leaders honour to Tiwari

Ashutosh Tiwari, Country Representative of WaterAid in Kathmandu has received Young Global Leaders (YGLs) honours for 2011 presented by the World Economic Forum.
Tiwari, the only one from Nepal to receive this honour this year opined that the award has recognised his organisational capacity.
Nepal received this honour after three years. Aashmi Rana was honoured as a Young Global Leader from Nepal in 2008.
The World Economic Forum honours with Young Global Leaders (YGLs) every year in recognition and acknowledgment of up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
For 2011, the Forum has selected 190 Young Global Leaders from 65 countries and all stakeholders of society -- business, civil society, social entrepreneurs, politics and government, arts and culture, and opinion and media.
The new class represents all regions from East Asia (50) to South Asia (18), Europe (42) and Middle East and North Africa (13), sub-Saharan Africa (14), North America (37) and Latin America (16). "This year’s selection has more gender parity than ever, with 44 per cent women," said the World Economic Forum.
"The challenges faced by the next generation of leaders are more daunting and intractable than ever and cannot be mastered with the current set of strategies, institutions, standards and attitudes," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
"To address these challenges in a meaningful and sustainable way requires fresh thinking, multi stakeholder engagement and dynamic new ways of collaborating to develop innovative solutions that are truly global, I created the foremost platform for young leaders to engage in global affairs to shape a more positive, peaceful and prosperous society," he said, adding, "within the World Economic Forum community, the Young Global Leaders represent the voice for the future and the hopes of the next generation."
Drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2011 were chosen by a selection committee, chaired by Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The Young Global Leaders 2011 reflect different kinds of leadership in different parts of the world and different parts of society.
The 2011 honourees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders community that currently comprises 668 outstanding individuals. The YGLs convene at an annual summit which this year will be held in Dalian, People’s Republic of China, on September 12-16.

Nepal figures in bottom 10 in global competitiveness survey

Political instability has hurt the Nepal's business competitiveness as it figures in the bottom 10 in the World Competitiveness Report for 2010-11.
"Among the 139 economies that are surveyed by the WEF, Nepal ranks 130th due to political instability, corruption, policy instability, inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate supply of infrastructure among others," said Bharat Pokharel, executive director of Centre of Economic Development and Administration (CEDA), Tribhuvan University (TU) launching the report for 2010-2011 here today.
Nepal scored 3.34 and ranked 130th -- the highest among the bottom 10 countries -- in the annual list that has figured Nepal at 125th in 2009-10's report among the 133 economies.
Similarly, Nepal ranked 126th in 2008-09 among the 134 economies. "The report shows that there has not been any positive changes in Nepal since last three years," he said, adding that the survey was conducted in Nepal in March-April among the 102 Small and Large Entreprises.
"This is an executive opinion survey of the entreprises that employes more than 50 people," said Prof Dr Ramesh Chitrakar, national coordinator of the World Competitiveness Report.
Nepal is also at the bottom in the South Asia, where India ranks 51st, Sri Lanka at 62nd, Bangladesh at 107 and Pakistan ranks at 123rd position.
Since 2005 the WEF started publishing the Global Competitiveness Report and Nepal has been figured since 2006, he said, adding that the report is based on 12 key indicators. Under the 12 indicators, there are 112 variables to measure a countries competitiveness.
Switzerland tops the overall ranking, whereas the United States falls two places to fourth position, overtaken by Sweden at second and Singapore at third position. The People's Repbulic of China continues to lead the way among the large developing economies, improving by two more places this year to position itself at 30. Other Asian that performed strongly are Japan (sixth) and Hong Kong (11th).

Top 10 Countries and Score

1. Switzerland -- 5.63
2. Sweden -- 5.56
3. Singapore – 5.48
4. United States – 5.43
5. Germany – 5.39
6. Japan – 5.37
7. Finland – 5.37
8. Netherlands – 5.33
9. Denmark – 5.32
10. Canada – 5.30

Bottom 10 Countries and Score

130 – Nepal – 3.34
131 – Mozambique – 3.32
132 – Mali – 3.28
133 – Timor Leste – 3.23
134 – Burkina Faso – 3.20
135 – Moritania – 3.14
136 – Zimbabwe – 3.03
137 – Burundi – 2.96
138 – Angola – 2.93
139 – Chad – 2.73

South Asian Countries and ranking
51. India – 4.33
62. Sri Lanka – 4.26
107. Bangladesh – 3.64
123. Pakistan – 3.48
130. Nepal – 3.34