afrol News, 17 June - Tunisia tops the competitiveness index in Africa according to the 2009 World Economic Forum report published in Cape Town, South Africa, by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and the Global Economic Forum on competitiveness of the continent.

Tunisia which is ranked 36th globally in the competitiveness index, has portrayed competitiveness on goods markets, taxation systems and agricultural sectors that are not very costly to the economy, according to the report.

The report said Tunisia's institutions are one of its major competitive advantages based on fairly transparent and trustworthy relations between the government and civil society and limited favoritism on the part of government officials.

However, despite ranking second in Africa in technological readiness, Tunisia still suffers from low technology penetration rates, according the report.

The report further said Tunisia has a well functioning health and educational system, as well as sound levels of domestic competition. Tunisia is ranked 17th in the world in terms of the quality of its educational system and 7th in terms of the quality of math and science education.

The report also stated that the country is equipped with infrastructure that meets international standards and that the number of internet users has reached 2,310,000 in 2008. Some 8,375 million people out of a population of 10,3 million are also said to own a cell phone in the country.

Tunisia earned a score of 4.6 points, ahead of South Africa (4.4 points), Botswana (4.2 points) and Mauritius (4.2 points), while Morocco ranked fifth with 4.1 points.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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