ASTANA (TCA) — The World Economic Forum has officially published the annual ranking of the Global Competitiveness Index 2018–2019. Among 140 countries, Kazakhstan occupies 59th place, which corresponds to the position of 2017, Kazakh Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov said at a press conference in Astana last week, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
Of the 12 competitiveness factors, improvement occurred on five — Institutions (+12), Goods Market (+10), Infrastructure (+3), Labor Market (+3), Financial System (+2). On three factors, the positions have not changed — ICT, Market Size, and Innovation Potential.
At the same time, Kazakhstan scored 61.8 points, having improved its position by 0.7 points in comparison with 2017, which made it possible to bypass such countries as Colombia, Turkey, and Peru.
Suleimenov emphasized that Kazakhstan ranked first in the world in terms of such parameters as shareholders’ rights in the field of corporate governance; the adequacy and integrity of the legal framework applicable to liquidation and reorganization procedures; degree of electrification (access to electricity).
In addition, Kazakhstan is in seventh place in terms of the cost of starting a business and in 11th place in regulating conflicts of interest.
“It should be particularly noted that in most factors, Kazakhstan is ahead of the countries of the region and countries with comparable income levels. In comparison with countries with a similar income level, Kazakhstan has high indicators on such factors as Macroeconomic Stability, ICT, Labor Market, Market Size, Education and Skills, and Dynamic Business,” said the minister.
In comparison with the CIS countries, Kazakhstan has a competitive advantage in such factors as ICT, Macroeconomic Stability, Labor Market, Market Size and Dynamic Business. For other factors, indicators of Kazakhstan are on average equal to those of CIS countries.
In general, the World Economic Forum has identified such factors as Labor Market as the competitive advantages of Kazakhstan — 30th place, and Dynamic Business — 37th place.
