Armenia drops 6 points to rank 85th in Global Competitiveness Report

Armenia drops 6 points to rank 85th in Global Competitiveness Report

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia dropped six points to rank 85th among 144 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report 2014, the head of Economy and Values Research Center told reporters Wednesday, Sept 3, according to ARKA.

For the first time, Armenia was included in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2005 to be ranked 79th in a list of 117 countries. It was the 82nd among 144 countries in 2012 and the 79th among 148 countries in 2013.

Armenia’s indicators are the same with other similar countries in respect of almost all assessment criteria, apart from two parameters – the market size and macroeconomic stability, Manuk Hergnyan said at Novosti International Press Center.

Among the CIS countries only Tajikistan (91st) and Kyrgyzstan (108th) have weaker posititions. Azerbaijan is the 38th, Kazakhstan 50th, Russia 53rd, Georgia 69th, Ukraine 76th and Moldova 82nd.

Armenia has advanced from the transition stage to the stage of development based on productivity growth as GDP per capita exceeded $3,000. In this respect, the leaders are Kazakhstan and Russia, which are on their way from transition to development of innovations, followed by Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine, with Azerbaijan and Moldova dropping behind, Hergnyan said.

According to him, it is becoming more urgent for Armenia to raise productivity and introduce innovations as these criteria start prevailing in the assessment.

As Hergnyan also noted, Armenia’s performance improved only for three out of 12 key – infrastructures, higher education and technological readiness. The rest of indicators have dropped by one to 24 points, he said.

The country’s most interesting advantage is the lowest AIDS prevalence among adults (1st position). The assessments are high also for some other indicators like procedures required for starting a business (3rd place), number of days required for a start-up (9th) and level of investors’ legal protection (22nd).

Armenia’s greatest disadvantages are seen in quality of port infrastructures (134th), which is natural for Armenia with no access to sea, share of exports in GDP (127th), external market rate (126th), ability to keep talents within its borders (123th), state procurements of advanced technologies (121st).

The report says the global economy is still at risk, and many countries fail to fully implement structural reforms, according to Hergnyan. The report emphasizes the importance of two factors, retaining talents and innovations, to ensure economic growth in future, he said.

The top ten economies in the ranking have remained unchanged for the last years – Switzerland, Singapore, USA, Finland, Germany, Japan, Honk Kong, Netherlands, Great Britain and Sweden.

Heads of 80-100 Armenian organizations representing major and medium/small-sized businesses were interviewed during the study this year.

The Economy and Values Research Center is a partner to the Global Competitiveness Network of the Global Economic Forum.

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