CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

Addressing issues of productive capacity will be key for the CF region to be able to diversify exports and, in particular, into more value-added exports or integration into GVCs. UNCTAD’s work on the PCI indicates that investment “is most needed in the areas of ICTs, energy, human capital, structural change and institutions.” 64 The data confirms that these are significant components for those CF partners that score well on the Index.

10.2 Insights from the Global Competitiveness index

The CARIFORUM countries, for which data is available, have shown general improvement in the Global Competitiveness Index. They are, for the most part, hampered by factors such as inefficiency in government bureaucracy, corruption, access to financing, high tax rates and high crime rates.

A review of the four CARIFORUM countries that were listed in the published Global Competitiveness Index 2019 Report have shown a mix of improvements and setbacks.

Barbados received the highest ranking by a CARIFORUM country at 77 th , with an overall score of 58.9. Barbados was not included in the 2014 or the 2018 publications, so an assessment of their improvements was not possible. The Dominican Republic is the second highest ranked CARIFUROM country at 78 th , with an overall score of 58.3, compared with 57.4 in 2018. The 2019 ranking is a significant improvement over the previous five years, when its ranking was 101 st . The Dominican Republic has made improvements in its institutions (86 th in 2019, compared with 116 th in 2014), infrastructure (79 th in 2019 compared with 98 th in 2014), macroeconomic environment stability (76 th in 2019, compared with 94 th in 2014), product market (82 nd in 2019, compared with 94 th in 2014), labour market (52 nd

64 https://trade4devnews.enhancedif.org/en/news/new-index-suggests-productive-capacities-should-be-priority-ldc5

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