Costa Rica ranked second-most competitive country in Latin America and the Caribbean
According to the World Economic Forum’s Annual Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, Costa Rica climbs another four ranks World Economic Forum’s Annual Competitiveness Report from last year to reach 55th place, overtaking Panama (59th) as the best performer in Central America. It is worth noting Costa Rica’s remarkable evolution in the rankings since 2006, with an overall 13-position improvement since that year, demonstrating the success of the unique development strategy followed by the country over decades. This has consistently focused on high-quality education, good governance standards, and production and export diversification—notably toward high-tech products and eco-tourism. The GCI underscores Costa Rica’s fairly good institutional environment (47th), quality education at all levels (29th for primary education and 44th for higher education and training), and the sophistication of its businesses (41st) and innovation potential (34th) as areas of strength. On a less positive note, notwithstanding recent progress, macroeconomic stability, at 101st, remains a cause for concern, while the poor state of the country’s infrastructure (82nd) represents a potential bottleneck for further economic modernization and diversification. Finally, red tape and rigidities in different sectors continue to affect the country’s business environment.
For the past three decades, the World Economic Forum’s annual competitiveness reports have examined the many factors enabling national economies to achieve sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity. Our goal over the years has been to provide bench- marking tools for business leaders and policymakers to identify obstacles to improved competitiveness, thus stimulating discussion on strategies to overcome them. In the current challenging economic environment, our work serves as a critical reminder of the importance of taking into account the consequences of our present actions on future prosperity.
Since 2005, the World Economic Forum has based its competitiveness analysis on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), a highly comprehensive index, which captures the microeconomic and macroeconomic foundations of national competitiveness.
Source: World Economic Forum – Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010
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