Global Competitiveness Report ranks Lanka at No. 70

The Global Competitiveness Report has ranked Sri Lanka at number 70 out of 131 countries. Last year Sri Lanka was ranked 81 out of 122 countries.

This is a good indication that Sri Lanka is becoming competitive globally, said the Chief Economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Gayathri Gunaruwan at a seminar organised by the CCC on the topic `How Competitive is Sri Lanka for Business'.

Gunaruwan said that the World Economic forum considers two indices i.e. Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Business Competitiveness Index (BCI). She said the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), looks at macro and micro economic aspects while the BCI looks at micro aspects.

According to her GCI looks into 12 main areas in measuring the country's competitiveness globally and Sri Lanka has done better in certain sectors compared to last year.

Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Dr. Saman Kelegama said that the GCI though it has shortcomings is acceptable in the absence of an alternative. It is also used by donor agencies, rating agencies and investors. He said that the private sector is operating with all the problems and they are innovative. Earlier they were policy driven now they are strategy driven.

Dr. Kelegama said that in countries such as Japan when the Cost of Production Increased they shifted their bases to other countries - even in the Sri Lankan business environment we can witness it, he said. These are strategy driven companies while the policy driven companies will operate in Sri Lanka in the hope of better times.

He said that when the Private sector wants to solve an issue they should speak in one voice with the government, as this will help the government to address the issues quickly. Dr. Kelegama said that Sri Lanka has a long way to go.

India and Vietnam have changed and moved up the ladder. Implementing reforms is difficult as managing change is difficult in our country.