TheCable

The latest World Economic Forum (WEF) rankings for global competitiveness in doing business saw Nigeria drop three places from 124 to 127 in the world, meaning it is more difficult to do business in the country.

Of the 138 countries considered in the Global Competitiveness Index, Nigeria was only better than 11 countries, most of which are war-torn and crises ridden countries.

According to the report, Nigeria ranked least on  health and primary education, and was greatly affected by weaker macroeconomic environment.

“Although still relatively low, the government deficit has almost doubled since last year and national savings has significantly suffered, worsening the current account position,” WEF said.

“Banks are less solid, reducing the availability of credit. Despite the central bank ending its currency peg, financial authorities have retained restrictions on access to the interbank market, meaning access to finance will remain difficult for many businesses.

WEF Global competitiveness chart for Nigeria 2016

“Additional factors holding back Nigeria’s competitiveness include an underdeveloped infrastructure (132nd), which is again rated as the country’s most problematic factor for doing business; insufficient health and primary education (138th), with only 63 percent of children enrolled in primary school; and the poor quality and quantity of higher education and training (125th).”

In 2015, WEF GCI shows that Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment was more bouyant and friendlier for doing business.

WEF Global competitiveness chart for Nigeria 2015

All the reasons for Nigeria’s poor showing on the global competitiveness index are all highlighted in the chart below:

Nigeria’s strongest advantage on the index is its market size, and its weakest pillar is infrastructure.