NZ in top 20 for global competitiveness

New Zealand has made it into the world’s top 20 countries for global competitiveness. The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report shows New Zealand moving up from 24th place last year.

Business NZ Chief Executive Phil O’Reilly says in recent years New Zealand has consistently hovered between 21st and 24th place.

“Over the last year New Zealand has shown small incremental improvement in several areas to reach 20th. Naturally, we would like to be in the top five instead. Surveys like this give useful feedback on how our business and government sectors are doing relative to the rest of the world.”

As in past years, New Zealand has scored highly for public institutions, protection of shareholders, lack of corruption, and efficiency of boards, but the ranking shows we could do better in macroeconomic stability, infrastructure and innovation.

“This demonstrates the urgency of what the Government is doing in these areas and is a timely signal to pick up the pace,” Mr O’Reilly said.

Business NZ is a partner with the World Economic Forum for this survey.

More information is on www.weforum.org