India climbed 16 places in the World Economic Forum's 2016-17 Global Competitiveness Index, emerging as the highest rising economy. Ranked 39 out of 138 countries, the improvement is said to be due to goods market efficiency, business sophistication, and innovation.
Switzerland, Singapore and the United States have been ranked as the world's most competitive economies, China stands on 28, Russia on 43, South Africa at 47, while Brazil took a fall six notches and now stands at 81. The GCI report said, "Thanks to improved monetary and fiscal policies, as well as lower oil prices, the Indian economy has stabilised and now boasts the highest growth among G20 countries." The report was derived after measuring 12 areas, including institutions, infrastructure, macro-economic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods and market efficiency, labour market efficiency and others.
DK Joshi, chief economist at Crisil said, "Relative to other economies, the Narendra Modi government has focused on repair and reform of the economy which is pushing up India's competitiveness. India's ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business is also likely to go up."
According to the report, Pakistan has shown recovery on the economic front, where the country has been successful in improving its macroeconomic framework to improve its global competitiveness.
Pakistan improved from 119 in 2015-16 to 111 in 2016-17 on the institutions pillars, while infrastructure improved only one point and stands at 116 this year. Corruption, followed by crime and theft, tax rates, access to finance and government instability and coups, has been identified as the most problematic factor for doing business in Pakistan. The report also indicates that a 10-year decline in the openness of economies at all stages of development poses a risk to countries' ability to grow and innovate.
