The world economic forum issued its annual Global Competitiveness index for year 2013 –2014 . Read it and you will know how Egypt needs a real revolution in every aspect in order to survive this ongoing world race.
fiscal deficit, rising public indebtedness, and persisting inflationary pressures. A credible fiscal consolidation plan, accompanied by structural reforms, will be necessary in order to maintain macroeconomic stability in the country. This may prove difficult in times of rising energy prices, as energy subsidies account for a considerable share of public expenditure. However, better targeting of subsidies could allow for fiscal
consolidation while protecting the most vulnerable. Second, measures to intensify domestic competition would result in efficiency gains and contribute to energizing the economy by providing access to new entrants. This, in turn, would make the country’s private sector more dynamic, thereby contributing to job creation. And third, making labor markets flexible (141st) and more efficient (145th) would allow the country to increase employment in the medium term.
First here is the ranking of the Middle East countries arranged “as well other countries I found interesting in the report” as they appear in the report.
| Country | Rank “Out of 148” | Score “1-7” | Rank among “2012-2013” economies | GCI “2012-2013” |
| Qatar | 13 | 5.24 | 13 | 11 |
| UAE | 19 | 5.11 | 19 | 24 |
| KSA | 20 | 5.10 | 20 | 18 |
| Israel | 27 | 4.94 | 27 | 26 |
| Oman | 33 | 4.64 | 33 | 32 |
| Kuwait | 36 | 4.56 | 36 | 37 |
| Bahrain | 43 | 4.45 | 43 | 35 |
| Turkey | 44 | 4.45 | 44 | 43 |
| Jordan | 68 | 4.20 | 68 | 64 |
| Iran | 82 | 4.07 | 81 | 66 |
| Tunisia | 83 | 4.06 | n/a | n/a |
| Algeria | 100 | 3.79 | 98 | 110 |
| Lebanon | 103 | 3.77 | 101 | 91 |
| Libya | 108 | 3.73 | 106 | 113 |
| Egypt | 118 | 3.63 | 115 | 107 |
| Mauritania | 141 | 3.19 | 137 | 134 |
| Yemen | 145 | 2.98 | 140 | 140 |
| Chad | 148 | 2.85 | 143 | 139 |
Here is an info graph for the top ten Arab countries in the report. Of course all of them are rich oil gulf states.
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| Click in to zoom in "World economic forum" |
Nevertheless you will find Israel after Qatar, UAE and KSA in the ranking when it has no oil.
Here is also an info graph about top ten Sub Saharan African countries.
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| Click to zoom in |
Shamelessly Egypt comes in the 118th rank. It went down from 115 in 2012-2013 to 118 in 2013-2014. We used to be in the 94th rank in 2011-2012.
Here is what is written about Egypt in the report itself :
Egypt drops by 11 positions to reach 118th place in this year’s GCI. This assessment is likely influenced by the country’s continued transition since the events of the Arab Spring. The deteriorating security situation and tenacious political instability are undermining the country’s competitiveness and its growth potential going forward. Although resolving political friction needs to remain the priority as this Report goes to print, many of the underlying factors that will be decisive about the sustainability of the country and the cohesion of the society over the medium to longer term are economic in nature. Establishing confidence through a credible and far-reaching reform program will be vital to the country’s future and to realizing the considerable potential of the country’s large market size and proximity to key global markets. According to the GCI, three areas are of particular importance. First, the macroeconomic environment has deteriorated over recent years to reach 140th position mainly because of widening fiscal deficit, rising public indebtedness, and persisting inflationary pressures. A credible fiscal consolidation plan, accompanied by structural reforms, will be necessary in order to maintain macroeconomic stability in the country. This may prove difficult in times of rising energy prices, as energy subsidies account for a considerable share of public expenditure. However, better targeting of subsidies could allow for fiscal
consolidation while protecting the most vulnerable. Second, measures to intensify domestic competition would result in efficiency gains and contribute to energizing the economy by providing access to new entrants. This, in turn, would make the country’s private sector more dynamic, thereby contributing to job creation. And third, making labor markets flexible (141st) and more efficient (145th) would allow the country to increase employment in the medium term.
There is no doubt that we are paying the price of the political changes in Egypt as the report says “turmoil”. Still if you think about , we did not reach to this low ranking among other developing and poor countries in the world because of the past three yearsbut rather because of the past 33 years especially when it comes to education.
Here are the scores of Egypt in the report, one thing for sure we are a big market.
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| Click to zoom in |
The original 25 January Revolution erupted from two years ago because of the reasons that lead a country like Egypt to hit rock bottom like that , at least this is my case.
We do not have true political leaders or figures that even have got a vision to see Egypt as true leading power using our capabilities and sources. We are still living in the great slogans that “Egypt is the mother of the world” and “Egypt is the most independent nation in the history of the mankind” not to mention “The world is plotting against us” to the end of those nationalist slogans.
We need a balanced economic policies to ensure social justice and at the same time to improve the economy and encourage investments.
We should not depend only on tourism and Suez canal as main sources of income. I am not an economic expertbut I know true economic development will be achieved if we have true political reforms that support transparency and accountability.
Needless to say,I do not know if the people really want democracy , accountability and transparency anymore in Egypt.
God does not help the fool nor the lazybut we continue to believe that God won’t let us down. Well the problem is that we are the ones who let ourselves down over and over as people with our choices.
Here is the full report in PDF.