The Council for Competitiveness and Innovation (CCI) says T&T's improved ranking in the 2014 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) indicates a positive increase in the competitiveness the economy, which is welcome news for Government given its focus on improving the country's competitiveness as outlined in the Medium Term Policy Framework (2011-2014).
The 2014 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) was released by the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business on Wednesday at the Yara Auditorium, Lok Jack Graduate School of Business
Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development, Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie said: "I am heartened by the three-point drop in crime and the reversal of the negative trends. I thank all who have been contributing to this effort. Right now we need to study the details and focus on where we can target our best efforts.
"In October Dr Bruno Lanvin, the author of the Global Innovation Index Report, will be in Port-of-Spain and we will have a serious discussion since competitiveness and innovation are inextricably connected. We have done well, but we can do better and will do better."
In presenting the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, Balraj Kistow, a faculty member of Arthur Lok Jack, said data presented in the report suggested the beginning of a positive turn around in the downward trend in competitiveness of the country as evidenced by the GCI results over the last two years (2012-2013). Further, he noted that T&T is on par or better in 11 of the 12 pillars when compared to its neighbours in Latin America and the Caribbean.
There are three sub-indices of the GCI within which the 12 pillars are grouped: basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation and sophistication factors. Of these, T&T experienced the following changes year on year:
�2 Basic requirements: improved from 60 to 52, with an increase in score of 0.1 to 4.8
�2 Efficiency enhancers: improved from 82 to 81, with no change in score
�2 Innovation and sophistication factors: improved from 92 to 88, with an increase in score of 0.1 to 3.5
Further, T&T experienced notable improvement in the macroeconomic environment pillar (from 52 to 38) and business sophistication pillar (79 to 69).
Over the last year, the CCI has developed a plan of action to systematically increase this country's ranking in the GCR. In the 2013-2014 GCR, T&T was reclassified from an efficiency-driven to an innovation-driven economy in terms of its stage of development. This re-classification was based on the level of GDP per capita of the country at market exchange rates, and is considered a lead indicator.
To increase competitiveness at the firm level and to improve overall competitiveness in the country, the CCI's plan of action included hosting two consultations with the private and public sectors (including state enterprises). These consultations also focused on some of the elements of the GCI such as the macro- economic factors which may have caused T&T's lowered ranking in 2012-2013