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South Asia Still Lags in Productivity Says WEF

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South Asia has a problem.

Workers are less productive than their peers in China and Southeast Asian countries and this is crimping growth in the region, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s annual report on global competitiveness.

This year, none of the SAARC countries, comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, broke into the top 50 most productive nations. India jumped 16 places from last year to finish at 55. Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan were ranked 68, 105, 107, 100, and 126, respectively.

By comparison, five of ASEAN’s largest economies, including Indonesia, finished in the top half of the rankings.

What’s to blame? Rampant corruption, government instability, ineffective policies, and inflation are some of the common factors that make it difficult to do business. This hinders innovation and affects productivity in South Asia, the WEF reckons.

Worsening the situation is the rapid urbanization that these countries face, for which they are ill prepared. As a result, cities become strapped for resources; there is rampant poverty and living standards in these countries continue to fall. A recent World Bank report warned that unless these countries can have a handle on rapid urbanization, they will continue to fall behind their richer regional counterparts.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza

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