Italy jumped six positions in
one year to reach 43rd place out of the 140 countries analysed
in the 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report produced by the
World Economic Forum and released on Wednesday.
The report said that the Jobs Act labour reform together
with an overall package of government reforms are "the driving
force of a strong overall improvement in economic
competitiveness in Italy", but also said "there's still much to
do".
Labour market efficiency is "still very low" at 126 out of
the 140 countries evaluated, even though that number represents
a jump of 10 places over last year.
The World Economic Forum said "the macroeconomic context in
Italy, worrisome, drops three places to 111, slowed by high
public debt (136 out of 140)".
An improvement in innovation also boosted the
competitiveness of the Italian economy, the report said, as
Italy rose three spots to 32 in the research and development
category, but it was reforms in the labour market that gave a
"strong general improvement".
Despite positive gains, the report said "much work remains:
more improvements in the labour market are needed, especially in
effect of taxation on incentives to work (137 out of 140), in
order to increase pay and productivity (131), and in hiring and
firing practices (132)".
The report said that the sector of small and medium
businesses is "another area of interest", as the country's
ranking for the high specialisations of its companies rose one
place to reach 24, while the state of cluster development - the
concentration of companies that are highly complementary - drops
to 4 after holding the number one spot in 2014.
Moving from Italy to the global scene, the report said
there are still worrisome signs facing a "new normality" as a
product of slow growth and high unemployment that is "damaging
the ability for recovery and leaving the world vulnerable to
another prolonged collapse".
In this light, "emerging markets represent the principle
cause of unemployment", also due to unimplemented reforms.
"India is a notable exception, registering a 'stellar' jump
of 16 places, even though it started from a low level," the
report said.
In Europe, the report said that there were improvements in
many southern economies, which help to bridge the north-south
gap, but said that access to financing remains the key challenge
in the region.
In Asia, three economies - Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong
- appear in the top 10 overall, and the bloc of nations known as
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "continue to
work well and China is stable in 28th place".
Italy has therefore gained position in the overall
competitiveness ranking, and although it remains far from the
top, the country has jumped others including Panama, Malta,
Turkey, Mauritius and Oman.
The top ten countries are comprised of: Switzerland,
Singapore and the United States remaining stable in the top
three; followed by Germany and the Netherlands which both gained
position; Japan and Hong Kong which both stayed at sixth and
seventh place respectively; Finland in eighth place after
holding the fourth place spot last year; Sweden jumping one
place this year to ninth overall; and the United Kingdom which
switched places with Sweden falling to tenth from ninth last
year.
photo: Premier Matteo Renzi with Economy Minister Pier Carlo
Padoan
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