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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2016 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Malta climbs up global competitiveness index but executives complain of 'poor work ethic' Executives polled by World Economic Forum say Malta's inadequately educated workforce and poor work ethic are main problems hampering competitiveness Matthew Vella Malta has improved its ranking in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index (GCI) to go up eight places to 40th in the latest 2016-2017 in- dex. Malta fell between India, which climbed up from 55th position in 2014 to 39th, and Indonesia, which fell to 41st from its 37th ranking the previous year. The top 20 most competitive countries remained unchanged, except for Malaysia, which fell to 25th while Austria entered this tier at 19th place. Malta's GCI score was built by the three main indexes of basic requirements (29th), efficiency enhancers (41st) and innovation factors (41st). In the basic requirements index, Malta ranked 38th for institutions, 40th for infrastructure, 21st for macroeconomic environment and 18th for health and primary education. In the efficiency enhancers index, Malta ranked 38th in higher education and training, 30th in goods market efficiency, 41st in labour market efficiency, 41st in financial market development, 20th in technological readiness, and 126th for market size. Finally in the innovation and sophistication index, Malta ranked 40th and 41st in business sophistication and innovation, respectively. Executives polled for the GCI said that Malta's top five problems were an inadequately educated workforce, inefficient government bureaucracy, access to finance, poor work ethic in the national labour force, and an insufficient capacity to innovate. The Global Competitiveness Report's competitiveness ranking is based on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2005. Defining competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country, GCI scores are calculated by drawing together country-level data covering 12 categories – the pillars of competitiveness – that collectively make up a comprehensive picture of a country's competitiveness. The Global Competitiveness Index in 2016 For the eighth consecutive year, Switzerland ranks as the most competitive economy in the world, narrowly ahead of Singapore and the United States. Following them is the Netherlands and then Germany. The next two countries, Sweden (6) and the United Kingdom (7) both advance three places, with the latter's GCI score being based on pre-Brexit data. The remaining three economies in the top 10, Japan (8), Hong Kong SAR (9) and Finland (10) all move backwards. While European economies continue to dominate the top 10, there remains no end in sight for the region's persisting north- south divide. Spain improves by one point climbing to 32, however Italy drops back one place to 44 and Greece reverses 5 places to 86. France, the Eurozone's second largest economy, climbs one place to 21. For all economies in Europe, maintaining and improving prosperity levels will depend heavily on their ability to harness innovation and the talents of their workforces. There is some sign of convergence in the competitiveness of the world's largest emerging markets. China, on 28, remains top among the BRICS grouping although another surge by India – which climbs 16 places to 39 – means there is now less of a gap between it and its peers. With both Russia and South Africa moving up two places to 43 and 47 respectively only Brazil is declining, falling six places to 81. The competitiveness gap in East Asia and Pacific, meanwhile, is widening. Although 13 of the 15 economies covered consecutively since 2007 have been able to improve their GCI score over the past decade, this year sees reversals for some of the larger emerging markets in the region: Malaysia drops out of the top 20, falling seven places to 25; Thailand drops two to 34; Indonesia falls four places to 41 while the Philippines drops 10 to 57. A consistent theme for all the region's developing countries is the need to make inroads into the more complex areas of competitiveness related to business sophistication and innovation if they are to break out of the middle-income trap. The drop in energy prices has heightened the urgency of advancing competitiveness agendas across the Arab world. With three economies in the top 30, the United Arab Emirates (16); Qatar (18); and Saudi Arabia (29) there remains a clear need for all energy-exporting nations to further diversify their economies and for much greater effort to improve basic competitiveness among the region's energy-importing nations. Halmann Vella take national champion at European Business Awards Halmann Vella has been named a National Champion for Malta in The European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM. This is Europe's largest business competition set up to celebrate business excellence and best practice in the European busi- ness community. The Award, now in its 10th year, is supported by business leaders, academics and political representatives from across Europe, and this year engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries. Halmann Vella has been chosen after the first phase of judging by an independent panel. They were evaluated on the core EBA values of innovation, ethics and success and will now go through to the second stage of the competition, which includes a video and a public vote. With a history spanning almost 60 years and a name synonymous with marble and granite, traditional patterned tiles and other natural stone and surfacing materials, nowadays Halmann Vella continues to satisfy the requirements of discerning Maltese and foreign clients. Apart from residential projects, the company has also been involved in a number of large commercial projects such as Portomaso, the Midi Project, Smart City and Renzo Piano's Valletta City Gate, Joseph Tabone, CEO of Halmann Vella said: "We're very proud to be selected to represent Malta as a National Champion. We remain committed to providing the best quality and service to our customers." The next round requires the National Champions to make a presentation video, telling their unique story and explaining their business success. The Awards' independent judges will award the best of this group the 'Ruban d'Honneur' status and the selected companies will then go on to the Gala Final in 2017. Separately, in a two stage public vote, the videos will be hosted on the European Business Awards website, and the company who receives the most votes in their country will become the 'National Public Champion'. Last year over 227,000 votes were cast as companies were supported globally by their clients, staff and peers, as well as the general public.