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Namibia jumps 4 places on index
NAMIBIA has clinched sixth place on the latest Africa Competitiveness Index, and is one of four countries singled out by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as “African economic success stories”.
Sharing the honour are Botswana, Mauritius and Tunisia.
The 2009 Index, released yesterday at the 19th WEF on Africa meeting in Cape Town, shows Namibia climbing four positions since the previous report in 2007.
In addition, the country also moved up nine ranks to 80th place on the Global Competitive Index.
“Fairly clear rules of the game”, peace and stability, as well as adequate public services paid off, the WEF said.
“In all four countries, the governments have proved to be a driving force behind their success.”
Size does not matter after all, Namibia and the other three showed.
“Smallness may compel the business community to compete globally and governments to build efficient institutions that promote private sector development,” the WEF said.
All four economies have recorded good macro-economic performances and are classified as middle-income economies in spite of their meagre share of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP) and natural resources.
“The four countries can provide lessons to a host of other small economies in Africa, which include some of the resource-rich countries,” the WEF continued.
Zooming in on Namibia and Botswana, the forum said they managed to avoid the so-called Dutch disease, or the decline in manufacturing due to natural resource exploitation, as well as the violence and domestic conflicts that often come with natural resource wealth.
“In both these countries, thanks to efficient governance, natural resources have been a blessing, not a curse,” the WEF said.
Counting in Namibia’s favour were excellent infrastructure, strong institutions, the protection of property rights and an independent judiciary, all of which the country is ranked under the top 50 in the world. Government was also tapped on the shoulder for its prudent macroeconomic management, resulting in a budget surplus in 2006 and 2007, which was used to drastically reduce debt.
Not everything is coming up roses in the WEF report, though. Namibia has considerable competitive weaknesses too, it shows.
Starting and closing a business in the country remains problematic in terms of effort and cost.
Labour regulations don’t appear to be a major concern, but that is because Namibian producers are unable to fire workers, “who benefit from extensive legal protection against dismissal”, the WEF said.
Workers’ behaviour seems to be a huge problem.
Three of the 15 biggest constraints for doing business in Namibia relate to labour, especially as far as skills shortage and work ethic are concerned, the WEF said.
Despite this, productivity is regarded as good.
“The median firm performance as measured by the value added per worker is about US$15 000,” the report states.
This is about 50 per cent under that the South African median firm, but nearly 50 per cent above the level in Botswana and Mauritius. Labour productivity is also higher than in China and Thailand, some of the fastest growing lower-middle-income countries, the WEF said.
“Namibia compares favourably with a wide range of middle-income economies and is one of the best performers in Africa in terms of productivity.”
Like Botswana, Mauritius and Tunisia, Namibia will have to improve the quality of its human resources to increase competitiveness.
“Human capital will be the key condition for these countries to enhance firm productivity, upgrade technologies and develop high-value-added services,” the WEF said.
Namibia scored four points overall in the 2009 Africa Competitiveness Index.
The average score for Sub-Sahara is 3,5 and for North Africa four.
In the top five are Morocco (4,1), Mauritius (4,2), Botswana (4,2), South Africa (4,4) and Tunisia (4,6).
jo-mare@namibian.com.na
