Turkey declines 6 places in global competitiveness

World Economic Forum reveals Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016. Turkey declines 6 places due to issues with the macroeconomic environment and institutions, becoming 51st among 140 countries.

Key Findings:

1. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, countries need to increase efficiencies to combat the decline in growth worldwide and high unemployment.

2. Report findings suggest that the failure to improve competitive strength causes countries to be vulnerable against stagnation and other shocks.

3. Switzerland, Singapore and the United States continued to support innovation, topping all 140 economies studied.

Switzerland-based World Economic Forum revealed the results of the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 compiled in association with the TÜSİAD – Sabancı University Competition Forum. 140 countries were assessed in terms of competitiveness this year, and Switzerland took first place once again. Singapore and the United States were second and third, respectively, same as the previous year. The top 10 competitive countries are listed in the table below. 

The largest emerging market economies of the world continue facing challenges in improving competitiveness. Saudi Arabia ranked 25th, Turkey 51st, and Brazil 75th, all having declined since last year. India put an end to 5 years of decline and made a significant leap, ascending by 16 positions to 55th place. 

China remained in 28th place this year, being the highest-positioned of the BRICS countries.

Comments on Turkey:

The comments of the report on Turkey point out that Turkey has a GDP of 806.1 billion US dollars according to 2014 purchasing power parity, a per-capita income of 10,482 US dollars, and that Turkey's GDP accounts for 1.40% of the global total.

According to the Global Competitiveness Index 2015-2016 calculations, Turkey ranks 51st among 140 countries. Turkey was 45th among 144 countries in 2014, and 44th among 148 countries in 2013. As in the previous year, Turkey's best performance among the pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index was in the Market size component with 16th place.  Turkey's largest drop was in the Institutions index where it ranked 75th. According to the report, the volatile political environment (June 2015 elections) and geopolitical strife merged to create an environment of uncertainty, which led to the decline of private investments, particularly international investments, which play a large part in the development of Turkey. Investments slowed down also because of high inflation rates and decreasing effectiveness of and confidence in the local financial sector. Turkey's loss of position was in part due to an adverse macroeconomic environment.

The table below shows Turkey's position in some of the pillars used in the calculation of the Global Competitiveness Index. As seen in the table, there is sharp decline in competitiveness index components, with the only increase being in Labor market efficiency, and the Market size component staying the same.