Pakistan was ranked 115th out of 137 countries in the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness scale, which was termed as a big improvement from the 122nd position it held last year, and the 133rd position back in 2014.
Even though the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a work in progress, Pakistan’s economy has already shown signs of progress on the global competitiveness scale of the World Economic Forum.
One of the reasons for this improvement was Pakistan’s progress in the infrastructure pillar of the report, where the country is ranked 110th.
Pakistan is up by seven places in the influential Global Competitiveness Index of the WEF, crawling out of the bottom-20, but it still remains at the bottom among the south Asian countries, said 2018 report.
The 2017-18 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan at 115th place out of 137 countries, 22 places from the bottom; last year’s report ranked Pakistan at 122nd number out of 138 countries.
Even though Pakistan jumped seven positions but its performance still remained below average when compared with all the hue and cry about country’s competitiveness.
Pakistan showed improvements on 82 key indices among 114 global competitiveness indicators, whereas on 20 indices the country lost its previous position. In 12 indices, the position remained the same as last year.
The yearly report focuses on the assessment of factors driving countries’ productivity and prosperity, which the WEF defines as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity.
Pakistan’s ranking at 115 is measured by 12 pillars of competitiveness: on the institutions pillar, Pakistan improved 21 ranks and stood at 90 from previously held 111; on the macroeconomic stability pillar Pakistan improved 10 ranks and stood at 106; and infrastructure pillar improved from 116 to 110.
According to the survey, in context of people-politician trust, the country jumped from last year’s 85 to 62 this year. Judicial independence was also strengthened and the country secured the 80th position from the last year ranking of 72.
