Israel has dropped four places from 16th to 20th in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2018 global competitiveness index, which was published last night. The WEF added several new metrics to its 2018 index, which clearly adversely affected the country's ranking, such as workforce diversity, and how hierarchical the biggest companies are in a particular economy.
The index was headed by the US followed by Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. In 140th and last place was Chad.
In the influence of bureaucracy over the business sector, Israel is 59th, in the amount of time it takes to open a business in the country, Israel is 74th. in the costs of opening a new business, Israel is 50th while Israel is ranked 45th in access to credit for businesses.
Israel is especially low, in 125th place, in the ease of which it is to employ foreign workers and 81st place in complexity of payments and tariffs, and in 90th place in terms of transparency of government budgets. Israel is ranked in 42nd place in maritime and air services and 37th place in professional training. The index is not entirely grim reading and in the startup sector, perhaps not surprisingly, Israel was ranked sixth out of 140 countries.
The Prime Minister's Office had been particularly proud of Israel's ranking last year. However, after Israel was ranked 58th in the World Bank's ease of doing business index, the government has begun making efforts to improve the ranking led by the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Finance Accountant General Roni Hizkiyahu.
Manufacturers Association of Israel president Shraga Brosh expressed concern about the new index rankings. Israel's fall in the global competitiveness index should set a red light flashing among all senior government figures. In contrast to what they are trying to tell us, our economic future does not bode well. Our economic leaders should relate seriously to these indices and take steps to change the situation and strive first and foremost to reduce the regulation that is strangling businesses in Israel."
The government has vowed to reduce regulation and bureaucracy but results are not being reflected in the latest indices.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 17, 2018
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