Measuring the Competitiveness of Selected CARICOM Countries: The Findings of the Global Competitiveness Index 2009-2010: Private Sector Development Discussion Paper #1

The World Economic Forum (WEF) views competitiveness as the potential of a country to grow in a sustained way over the medium to long term and thus create prosperity for its citizens. The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), developed by Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin of Columbia University together with the WEF, represents a powerful tool to shed light on the complex set of factors, policies, and institutions that determine the level of national productivity and therefore the diverging growth experiences of countries. Identifying the long-term drivers of economic growth becomes even more relevant in the current context of global economic downturn, in which short-term urgencies tend to dominate political debate and political agendas. In this situation, policymakers neglect the longer-term view at their peril, since economies displaying strong competitiveness fundamentals are able to better weather business cycle downturns and ensure that mechanisms enabling solid economic growth going into the future are in place.