WEF: Cyprus ‘moves up’ 19 places in competitiveness report

* Lags in macroeconomic stability, financial markets and market size *

Cyprus has crawled up 19 places in the World Economic Forum annual Global Competitiveness Report, with the incumbent administration hailing the result as a success of its economic policy and opposition voices shooting it down as not achieving much in the past five years.

Of the 137 countries ranked by the WEF, hosts of the annual summit in Davos, Cyprus placed 64th, up 19 from last year’s report, having rated in the lower half when it came to matters of macroeconomic stability (97th), development of financial markets (108) and market size (109). It also placed 24th among other EU member states.

However, Cyprus did better in effectiveness in buying consumer goods (25th), infrastructure (30), technological readiness (32), health and basic education (39) and effectiveness of labour market (39). It ranked near or above the global average in institutions, higher education and training of staff, state of business and innovation.

On the positive side, Cyprus was included among 37 countries classified as innovation-driven economies.

Where Cyprus lags behind other rival destinations is in areas where the Troika of international lenders has called for reforms, but which the government has been too slow to implement, especially in areas of privatisation. As a result, small to medium sized enterprises continue to suffer, suffocated by huge debts and unpaid tax bills owed to the state. It is estimated that of the EUR 2.5 bln in outstanding payments owed to the tax authorities, only about a fifth of that is deemed as collectible, as the rest is due to bankruptcies and inability to pay.