Colombia dropped five places to number 66 in the World Economic Forum’s 2017/2018 global competitiveness ranking.
The country is now considered Latin America’s fifth most competitive country falling behind Chile, Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico.
Latin America’s competitiveness ranking
- Chile (4.71)
- Costa Rica (4.50)
- Panama (4.44)
- Mexico (4.44)
- Colombia (4.29)
- Peru (4.22)
- Uruguay (4.15)
- Brazil (4.14)
- Guatemala (4.08)
- Argentina (3.95)
- Nicaragua (3.95)
- Honduras (3.92)
- Ecuador (3.91)
- El Salvador (3.77)
- Paraguay (3.71)
- Venezuela (3.23)
According to the report, the 2014 drop in oil prices has hurt the country’s finances while corruption and government inadequacies have lowered the government’s performance.
Additionally, the report ranked the country’s innovation and business sophistication lower than average.
The fall is mainly explained by a deteriorating macroeconomic environment due to a rising budget deficit and inflation as well as deterioration in the labor market efficiency pillar. Finally, the efficiency of the country’s institutions is assessed more negatively, falling to 117th, reflecting news of alleged corruption cases currently under investigation. Indicators of government efficiency have also deteriorated affecting the institutions pillar of the Index.
World Economic Forum
The report considered corruption the most problematic factor related to competitiveness, followed by tax rates and inefficient government bureaucracy.
