Rwanda’s omission from the World Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 has been attributed to the absence of a World Economic Forum office in the country. The annual report produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF) focuses on competitiveness in the different sectors of a given economy. The forum is an independent organisation that promotes entrepreneurship in the global public interest. Vincent Karega, the former State Minister for Industry and Investment Promotion said that despite Rwanda being left out the country could obtain a better ranking if surveyed. While commenting on WEF report released recently Karega, currently the State Minister for Environment and Mining said that the presence of an office in the country would facilitate the forum to work with its partner institutes and business organization to conduct surveys in the country. The report was released on the 7th of October. “There have been a lot of reforms introduced that promote competitiveness as the country pushes to libearlise its economy,” he said. The report covered 131 countries worldwide. The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and from the Executive Opinion Survey. Kenya is ranked the most competitive at the 93rd position in the East African region, six places better than in 2007/08. This positions Kenya’s economy among the top ten most competitive in Africa, in terms of growth and sustainability, despite concerns that corruption and poor infrastructure continue to undermine the gains. Tanzania is ranked 110, Uganda-124 and Burundi-128. The World Bank, African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Economic Forum rank Kenya together with other African giants like South Africa, Libya and Nigeria. South Africa takes position 45 to remain the highest ranked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, “with a very stable performance.” Ends
