Title: The Europe 2020 Competitiveness Report: Building a More Competitive Europe
Authors: Beñat Bilbao-Osorio, Jennifer Blanke, Roberto Crotti, Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz, Stephen Kinnock, Caroline Ko
Pages: 44 pp.
ISBN: 978-92-95044-43-2
Publisher: World Economic Forum within the framework of the Global Competitiveness Network
Date (published): 02/05/2012
Date (accessed): 13/08/2012
Type of information: insight report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract: "The European Union (EU) is going through one of the most difficult periods since its establishment, with multiple challenges facing the region’s policy-makers. While many countries are struggling to recover from the worst financial and economic downturn since the Great Depression and some economies are even facing sovereign default for the first time in 60 years, political discontent is mounting. Some gloomy forecasts portend a lost decade for growth unless decisive action is taken at scale and speed to address the bottlenecks to reform that are strangling economic development."

Title: The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009
Pages: 351 pp.
ISBN: 978-92-95044-21-0
Publisher: World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the African Development Bank
Date published: 10/06/2009
Date accessed: 20/06/2009
Type of information: research publication
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, HTML and embedded pdf)
Abstract:
African businesses can become far more competitive, but African governments and their international partners will need to improve access to finance, resist pressure to erect trade barriers, upgrade infrastructure, improve healthcare and educational systems, and strengthen institutions.

The conclusions, released today at the launch of a major new report, The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009, reflect research efforts of three institutions – the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank and the World Bank. Limited access to financial services remains a major obstacle for African enterprises, but underdeveloped infrastructure, limited healthcare and educational services, and poor institutional frameworks also make African countries less competitive in the global marketplace. The report also points to a number of success stories in the region that highlight steps countries can take to improve the business environment.

The report highlights two short-term and three longer term policy themes for improving the competitiveness of African economies.

The two short-term themes are:
1) Increasing access to finance through market-enabling policies.
2) Keeping markets open to trade.

The three longer term themes are:
3) Infrastructure remains one of the top constraints to businesses in Africa.
4) Inefficient basic education and healthcare systems constrain Africa’s productive potential.
5) More examples of good governance and strong and visionary leadership are needed.