Nepal's competitiveness eroding

Though Nepal has improved its competitiveness by a notch, it has lost its rank as the third most competitive economy in South Asia, according to Global Competitiveness Report 2016-17 published by World Economic Forum (WEF).
Nepal scored 3.87 points and ranked 98th among 138 economies in the world, reveals the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). The country was at the 100th position among 140 countries last year.
In South Asia, India leads the chart with global ranking of 39, followed by Sri Lanka (71) and Bhutan (97), whereas Nepal slipped to fourth most competitive economy from last year's third most competitive economy. The GCI has ranked Bangladesh and Pakistan at 106th and 122nd position, respectively.
However, the country boasts the best macroeconomic environment in South Asia, and after significant recent improvement, the second highest level of health and primary education, according to the report.
But Nepal is the worst performer in terms of infrastructure. "The quality of infrastructure in Nepal has stalled," the report added.
Nepal is still under the factor-driven economies or Stage 1, which has 35 countries.
There are three sub-indices in the competitiveness report; Basic Requirements, Efficiency Enhancers, and Innovation and Sophistication factors. Nepal is ranked 98th in both Basic Requirements and Efficiency Enhancers sub-indices, while it is at the 127th position in Innovation and Sophistication sub-index.
Likewise, there are 12 pillars under the three sub-indices. Under Basic Requirements sub-index, Nepal ranks 100th with a score of 3.50 in Institutions, 130th in Infrastructure with a score of 2.16, 27th in macroeconomic environment with a score of 5.54, and 82nd in Health and Primary Education pillar scoring 5.56.
Similarly, under Efficiency Enhancer sub-index, Nepal ranks 113th with a score of 3.26 in Higher Education and Trainings, 116th with 3.90 score in Goods Market Efficiency, 103rd with 3.86 score in Labour Market Efficiency, 73rd with 3.91 score in Financial Market Development, 126th with 2.56 score in Technological Readiness, and 91st with 3.24 score in Market Size pillars, according to the report.
"Among 138 economies, Nepal ranks 124th with 3.25 score in Business Sophistication and 126th with 2.63 score in Innovation pillar under the Innovation and Sophistication sub-index," it added.
In the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, Nepal was ranked 100th, with a score of 3.9, among 140 economies in the world. Likewise, with a score of 3.8, Nepal was ranked 102nd in the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, among 144 economies.
The report also highlighted government instability, inadequate supply of infrastructure, corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy and policy instability as the most problematic factors in doing business in Nepal.
According to the report, Switzerland is the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore and United States.

Nepal ranks at 125 in Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10

Nepal continues to bring out the rear in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10, which was released today globally. The nation, ranked at 125, has improved by a solitary place as compared to last year, as per the flagship report of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Last year Nepal was at the 126th rank among 134 countries.
The WEF had conducted the survey in 133 countries. Of the three parameters taken into account — basic requirement, efficiency enhancers and innovation-sophistication factors — Nepal has shown improvement in the first category. The index is based on 12 pillars and 110 indicators of competitiveness, projecting a comprehensive picture of nations across the world and capturing all stages of development. Institution, infrastructure, macro-economic stability, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market sophistication, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation are the 12 pillars of its exhaustive study.
“Nepal has shown signs of progress in macro-economic stability. But, it has a lot of catching up to do on infrastructure, technological readiness and innovation,” said Professor Dr Ramesh Chitrakar, country coordinator, Global Competitiveness Programme, and project director of the Centre for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA). The CEDA is the working partner institute for the Global Competitiveness Programme, a Geneva-based body, since 2006.
Altogether, 13,000 business leaders were polled across 133 nations this year. “In Nepal, 50 per cent of the business leaders were polled from large enterprises. The rest were from middle and small scale units,” said Chitrakar.
Switzerland topped the overall ranking followed by the United States. Last year, America had topped the index. But it lost out this year largely due to its weakening financial markets and macro-economic instability. Singapore figured third on the list, a two-slot improvement since last year. It scored well on the following criterions — best institutions in the world, efficient goods and labour market, world-class infrastructure and sustained focus on education.
China — at 29th — and India —at 49th — continue to power their way among large developing economics. Nepal ranks at the bottom in South Asia.
According to the report, the nation’s per capita GDP was a paltry $459.30 in 2008.