TT near bottom of list in global comptetiveness

The United States continues to top the overall ranking in the 2008-09 Global Competitiveness index released earlier this month by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan and Canada. Trinidad and Tobago is near the bottom, ranking at 92, falling from 84 in the previous year.

It’s ranking is below Barbados (47) and Jamaica (86) but better than Guyana (115) and Suriname (103) in the index of 134 nations surveyed by the independent international organization. (Check the rankings chart)

The not-for-profit Geneva-based organization is impartial and tied to any political, partisan or national interests.

While Trinidad and Tobago’s status is below two regional states, what is perhaps most significant is that two are improving while Trinidad and Tobago is in decline.

According to the report, Guyana improved by 11 points, rising from 126 in the previous year and Suriname at 113 performed better by 10 points.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.

The survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate. For the 2008-09 report the forum conducted surveys among more than 12,000 business leaders in a record 134 global economies.

While the principal factor affecting most economies was rising food and energy prices combined with the major international crisis, Trinidad and Tobago was most adversely affected by crime. Other negative factors as noted in report (see chart) included: inflation, a poor work ethic in the national labour force, corruption and an inefficient government bureaucracy.

Commenting on the report, opposition MOP Jack Warner said it is “an indirect indictment on the political administration of Patrick Manning and the PNM".

The Chaguanas MP and shadow foreign minister pointed to other reports that lower the country’s status internationally.

On crime, he said Trinidad and Tobago now ranks ninth in a global index of the most homicidal countries of the world. In health, he said the percentage of hospital beds to population in the lowest in the region with only 33 beds for every 10,000 citizens (.33%) compared to Barbados (73); St Kitts (55; Grenada (48) and St Vincent (45).

All these countries are considered poor in comparison to Trinidad and Tobago and they are joining - with the exception of Barbados - a political and economic union with Trinidad and Tobago.

With all its wealth, Warner notes, Trinidad and Tobago is home to .02 per cent of the world’s poor, the highest percentage in the Caribbean region.

Referring to the United Nations index of the best nations in which to live, Warner said Trinidad and Tobago was at number 43 in 2002. He said under Manning it has dropped 16 points to 59.

And according to the global Transparency International corruption index the country has also declined dramatically from a high 5.3 at number 31 in 2000 when the UNC was in government to 79 in 2008 with a score of 3.4, tumbling 48 places under the Manning administration.

Warner said Trinidad and Tobago’s “global statistical flop is a direct consequence of the PNM’s incompetence and ineptitude in government.”

He blames the Manning administration “for mismanagement of the economy, misguided spending, wanton wastage, lack of accountability and transparency and its dismal failure in ensuring the safety of the citizenry.”

He said Manning’s failures have “collectively pushed this nation backward and into the depths of despair and desolation. Today we are failing, falling and standing on the gateway of the failed state.”