The World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday that Russia remains in 43rd place in this year’s edition of the influential Global Competitiveness Index, Regnum reports.
Researchers said Russia scored highly on factors relating to technology, higher education and the adoption of digital products by consumers, but was held back by a familiar list of barriers — corruption, first of all, followed by tax rates, weak access to finance, strict regulations on business, and confusing bureaucracy. Russia has risen more than 20 places in the rating since 2013.
The WEF defines competitiveness as “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country.” The Global Competitiveness Report ranks every economy in the world on 103 factors including economic indicators, laws and regulations, the internal political situation, research and development, and skills of the population.
Singapore overtook the United States to become the world’s most competitive economy in 2019, the WEF said, with Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Switzerland completing the top five.
Compared with other economies, Russia came in 22nd on the adoption of technology, 32nd on its innovative capacity and sixth in terms of market potential. At the other end of the scale, Russia placed outside the top 100 in terms of corruption, openness to international trade and access to finance for entrepreneurs.
