Azerbaijan leader among CIS countries for competitiveness

Azerbaijan took the 37th place in the Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, prepared by the World Economic Forum, according to the report posted on the Forum’s website.

The research covered a total of 138 countries.

Azerbaijan ranked the 40th among 140 countries in the previous report.

As in the previous report, Azerbaijan holds the highest position among the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. The country is followed by Russia (43rd place) and Kazakhstan (53rd place).

Azerbaijan’s global competitiveness index is 4.6 out of maximum 7 scores, according to the report.

Despite headwinds from the drop in oil prices that impact the macroeconomic environment, Azerbaijan and Russia improve their performance, mainly driven by better and more widespread education and reforms to improve the business environment and goods market efficiency, says the report.

Azerbaijan ranked 3rd for the number of procedures required to start a business, 9th – for time to start a business, 18th – for the level of women’s participation in the labor force, 39th – for macroeconomic environment, 36th – for the strength of investor protection, 33rd – for the number of internet users, 44th – for innovations, 41st – for the government debt and etc.

As for the other post-Soviet countries, Georgia ranked 59th in the ranking, Tajikistan – 77th, Armenia – 79th, Ukraine – 85th, Moldova – 100th , Kyrgyzstan – 111st.

Switzerland, Singapore, the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweeden, the UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Finland are leaders of the ranking. Chad, Mauritania and Yemen are the last three countries in the ranking.

Rankings of the World Economic Forum are based on a combination of public statistics and the results of the survey of CEOs, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its national partners – the leading research institutes and companies specializing in issues of competitiveness and economic development in the countries analyzed in the report. (Trend.az)