The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 to be launched this week

The World Economic Forum will this week on Wednesday, at the 19th World Economic Forum on Africa release the 2009 Africa Competitiveness Report, which describes the Continent’s business environment. The forum is due to meet from June 10 to 12, 2009 in Cape Town, South African. The launch of The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 will provide valuable insight. “Discussion will focus on the impact of the crisis on Africa’s traditional drivers of growth, including foreign capital flows, demand for oil and commodities, and infrastructure development.” Katherine Tweedie, Director, Head of Africa, World Economic Forum said in a press release. The forum will also focus on Africa’s investment climate and identifying practical solutions to foster better business practices and greater investment across the continent. The report captures numerous views of the Continent’s economy and how to expand opportunities to increase productivity and growth on the Continent. “This report continues unique research cooperation and presents a unified vision of the policy challenges that countries on the continent should address as a foundation for sustainable growth and prosperity.” a press release read in part. The second of its kind after its launch last year, the report is a partnership between three institutions which include; The World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AFDB). Organised in five chapters, this joint publication gives a report on several data collection efforts in its assessment of the competitive environment across the continent. The World Economic Forum conducts the “Executive Opinion Survey” that captures the perceptions of leading business executives on numerous dimensions of the economy from a cross-section of firms representing the main sectors of the economy. The World Bank conducts the “Enterprise Survey” that collects data through face-to-face interviews with hundreds of entrepreneurs in each country to describe the impact of their country’s investment climate on their firms. It also conducts the famous “Doing Business Indicators” based on survey of local experts in law and accounting who interact with a large number of firms. While the AFDB carries out a survey on “Knowledge to improve the investment climate and competitiveness”. Jacob Zuma, the new President of South Africa, will host the meeting, where participants will gather to deliberate under the theme “Implications of the Global Economic Crisis for Africa.” Ends