Ghana slips 11 places in global competitiveness report

The environment for doing business in Ghana in 2012 was far better than this year - that is according to the Executive Opinion and Global Competitiveness Report.

The country has gone down 11 places from 103rd position in 2012 to the 114th place in the latest global business competitiveness index released by the World Economic Forum.

The report which ranked countries based on how favourable the environment for doing business was ranked Ghana out of 148 countries across the world.

The Executive Opinion and Global Competitiveness Report was also based on publicly available data and responses from owners of big and small businesses.

The report showed that Ghana's drop was mainly due to a fall in its macroeconomic indicators, reversing 2012's trend.

However, the report praised the country for having strong public institutions, good infrastructure and a well developed financial market, which it says are far above regional standards.

Jenifer Blank, who is with the World Economic Forum, notes that a key message from the report is that for countries to stay competitive, strong institutions "are extremely important."

Switzerland maintained its position as the number one place to doing business in the world.

Meanwhile, Government has assured that it would put in place measures that will help improve the business environment in the short term.

Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Nii Lamptey Vanderpuye, told Joy Business a means of improving Ghana's business environment would be to improve "the processes people go through in clearing their goods form the ports."

He said his Ministry was working to ensure the country's ports, for instance, become more business friendly.