Bulgaria down 3 places on competitiveness

Bulgaria fell back three places in its overall competitiveness ranking, according to a survey among 142 economies in the world, performed by a team of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 was release and Bulgaria is now at 74^th place, down 3 ranks from September 2010 when it was on the 71^st. We are followed by Romania, which moved from 67^th to 77^th place.

The lagging behind of Bulgaria was predetermined by the decreased efficiency of the markets of goods, of the technological preparedness, of the level of business development, infrastructure, and innovation. The document, however, points out to the better performance of our institutions, the financial and labour markets, of the  education sector and increased professional qualifications..

Switzerland is the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore. The U.S. moved down from the 4^th to the 5^th position. The first Top 10 features the following EU member states Sweden (3^rd ), Germany (6^th), Netherlands (7^th), Denmark (8^th), the UK (10^th). Japan comes 9^th. Over the recent years, the competitiveness of the US economy has been deteriorating, while that of the EU countries remains at a constant level. China's competitiveness, on the other is growing rapidly.

The competitiveness index is based on 12 indicators such as infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and basic education, higher education and training, performance of goods markets, efficiency of the labor market, financial markets, market size, technological readiness, level of business development, innovation.

In 2011, Bulgaria performed better in terms of four indices: financial markets, institutions, the labor market, education and training.

On the financial markets indicator, Bulgaria moved up from the 91^st to the 75^th position. It advanced  in terms of investors protection, legal rights and access to credits. At the same time regulations on securities and their trading remain problematic.

Over the recent years, the institutions (judiciary, state administration, police) remain one of the most criticised points by the entrepreneurs in our country. The majority of the problems are caused by the complex administrative procedures, inefficient and cumbersome judicial system, lobbying, and spread of corrupt practices.

Although Bulgaria went down in the ranking in terms of its institutions, in the last report, our country moved up by 4 positions. This is due to the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party) government attempts to pursue a more transparent policy and better partnership with NGOs and business sector.

Our country moved up from the 58^th to 56^th spot also when it comes to labor market efficiency. The flexibility and the simplified HR practices in recruitment and dismissal of employees are positively estimated as well as the relatively high participation of women in the workforce. The disadvantages stem from the low economic productivity, the lack of cooperation between employers and employees, underestimation of professional management as well as the brain drain etc. Bulgaria climbed one position on the education indicator, thus from  58^th to 57^th place.

With respect to the remaining indices, Bulgaria's ratings worsened. We fell down from  42^nd to 46^th on the macroeconomic indicator; From the 48^th to 50^th spot also in terms of technological readiness. When it comes to Internet speed, ​​Bulgaria even ranks before countries such as Denmark, France, Norway and Germany. The problems are associated with the lack of active policy on the purchase of advanced technologies by the business sector.

Traditionally, Bulgaria has been lagging behind in the ranking in terms of  infrastructure. While in 2011 it was at 87^th place, outpaced by countries of the Balkan region such as Montenegro and Croatia.
Our country moved down from the 82^th spot to the 86^th one also in terms of efficiency of the commodity markets. Bulgaria received a low grade on the competitiveness of the domestic market as well as on the cumbersome customs procedures and the low exigency of local customers.

Bulgaria lags considerably behind also in terms of innovation: in the recent study it went down - from the 92^nd to 93^rd spot. Besides, a serious problem arose from the lack of cooperation between the business sector and research institutes in the innovation process. Furthermore, the insignificant role of public procurement procedures for the introduction of innovative solutions and products was also reported.
The status of the Bulgarian business sector continues to be assessed negatively. In terms of this indicator, our country dropped down another place - from the 95th to the 96th rank.

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