MEDIA RELEASE 24 JUNE 2025

TO ALL JOURNALISTS AND NEWS EDITORS

RE: SA ‘s competitiveness drops

South Africa’s international competitiveness ranking has dropped further in 2025 to 64, out of 69 countries rated according to the 2025 World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) produced by the Swiss based Institute of Management Development (IMD).  In 2024 South Africa ranked 60 and this is a significant drop of four places.

The Institute of Management Development (IMD) ‘s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) is an annual report that ranks the international competitiveness of 69 selected countries and is recognised internationally as the leading Survey of competitiveness between nations. The rankings are drawn from a combination of hard data and an Executive Opinion Survey.  Productivity SA is the information partner institute for the IMD in South Africa.  

Productivity SA is a government entity tasked with the promotion of employment and productivity growth within South Africa. The vision of Productivity SA is to lead and inspire a productive and competitive South Africa and its mission is to improve productivity by diagnosing, advising, implementing, monitoring and evaluating solutions aimed at improving South Africa’s sustainable growth, development and employment through increased competitiveness.

According to the Chief Economist at Productivity SA, Juliet Mashabela, “South Africa has fallen to a lowly ranking of 64th out of 69 countries surveyed for the 2025 global competitiveness rankings”.  In the latest IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, South Africa experienced a drop of four places compared to its ranking in 2024.

Mashabela placed emphasis on the importance of productivity in enabling South Africa to regain its competitiveness and said “Productivity and efficiency are in the driver’s seat of the competitiveness wagon. South Africa must prioritise optimising its labour market and modernising policies and regulations to strengthen its global position.”

The Institute of Management Development (IMD) ‘s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) evaluates each country’s data based on about 346 distinct criteria, which are grouped into 4 factors, where South Africa performed as follows among the 64 selected countries:

  • Economic performance                (63rd)  – A drop of two places
  • Government efficiency                 (63rd ) – A drop of two places
  • Business efficiency                      (78th)  – A drop of nine places
  • Infrastructure                                 (62nd   – A drop of two places

The Institute of Management Development (IMD)‘s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) shows that the following countries topped the global competitiveness rankings

  • Switzerland                       (1)
  • Singapore                         (2)
  • Hong Kong                        (3)
  • Denmark                           (4)
  • UAE                                  (5)

The top performing countries show a common characteristic of consistency performing well across all the competitiveness 4 factors that comprise Economic performance, Government efficiency, Business efficiency and Infrastructure.

According to the IMD ‘s Professor Jose Caballero, “Competitiveness provides the framework to quantify the outcome of dealing with the challenges, such as, international trade and investment, employment, the openness, political stability, etc. from a country perspective. Ultimately, it allows the IMD to recognise the factors that facilitate prosperity, and this is how the institute expects its rankings to be used and interpreted that competitiveness is both a tool and an objective of economic policy”.

ENDS

For more information, Contact the Productivity SA media liaison office, Maupi Monyemangene, on 0824473232 or send an e mail: maupim@productivitysa.co.za.

Issued by: Productivity SA