Czechia drops to 32nd place in WEF Global Competitiveness Report
The Czech Republic has dropped by three positions to 32nd place in the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Competitiveness Report. Despite that, Czechia remains the most competitive economy in Central Europe, suggests the rating. It finished behind Estonia, but ahead of the other Visegard Four countries, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The least competitive economies among EU member states are Croatia (62nd worldwide), Greece (59th), Romania (51st) and Bulgaria (49th).
The annual WEF competitiveness ranking, which has been released since 1979, compares 141 economies around the world. It analyses “the set of institutions, policies and factors” that determine the country’s overall level of productivity based on twelve pillars, including infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health and labour market.
On a scale from 0 to 100, each indicator shows how close an economy is to the ideal state of competitiveness. The Czech Republic received 70.9 points, compared to Singapore with 84.8 points.
The Czech Republic fared particularly well in the area of macro-economic stability, where it is ties at 1stt position in the world with a number of other countries. It also scored well in the areas of human capital skills, and innovation capability.
Among the indicators that hurt the Czech Republic’s rating is the situation on the labour market. The country is one of the least flexible in hiring foreign workers, ranking 116th worldwide. In terms of internal labour mobility, Czechia placed 133rd .
The report also states that the Czech Republic is not sufficiently prepared for a digital future. The skills of the future workforce, including critical thinking, put the Czech Republic in the 72nd spot worldwide.
Overall, the WEF report outlines grim prospects for the world economy and notes that “ten years on from the global financial crisis, the world economy remains locked in a cycle of low or flat productivity”.
