International rankings : Regional Feat, Global Decline?

Mauritius has regained its 20th place among the Top 20 of the World Bank Doing Business Survey ranking released recently. The country has moved up five places, after ranking 25th last year. Last week, the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance also maintained Mauritius at the top position. While Mauritius always tops the list at regional level, the global rank in many cases should be a cause for concern.

At the African level, Mauritius still stands out in various global rankings. The country has maintained its first position since 2007 in the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance. In the Doing Business Survey, we maintain our first position in Africa each year. There are several other rankings where Mauritius is the pride in Africa.

International rankings are increasingly becoming an important tool for measuring our socio-economic performance and good governance, as well as acting as a guide to define economic policies. The latest Doing Business report from the World Bank highly praises Mauritius for bringing up various reform programs over the last decade. “Indeed, over the past decade, Mauritius has reformed more than once in almost all areas measured by Doing Business. Following seven reforms in the area of property registration captured by Doing Business since 2005, for example, the time needed to register property has decreased more than 12 times; the time needed for business incorporation has decreased almost 10 times as a result of four reforms in starting a business,” says the report. 

Doing Business 

This year, it is no surprise that Mauritius has attained the 20th place, given the reforms achieved in recent years, especially through the two previous budgets. However, it is worthy to remember that Mauritius was already at the 20th place in 2011 and then again in 2014. We dropped to the 32nd place in 2015 to finally reach 49th place in 2016. But the country has had an impressive record since 2007: From the 49th position, Mauritius reached 29th in 2008, 24th in 2009, 17th in 2010 and 20th in 2011.

Human Development Index

In the 'Human Development Index' ranking, Mauritius has dropped slightly, from the 64th place in 2017 to the 65th position in 2018. In 2016 we were at the 63rd place. As a reminder, in 2012, the country was at the 80th place.

A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index

Mauritius performed poorly in the latest Kearney Global Services Location Index, released in 2017, and which is an important index for the ICT/BPO sector. We moved from the 30th place in 2016 to the 34th place in 2017. Our best score was achieved in 2009, when we ranked 25th on a list of 50 countries. The A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index measures the attractiveness of destinations for global outsourcing.

Global Innovation Index

Mauritius ranks 75th in the 2018 Global Innovation Index. It has been a big drop since 2017, when we were at the 64th place. In 2016, we ranked 53rd. In 2015, we were at the 49th place while in 2014 our rank was 40th. The Global Innovation Index is one of the few rankings where we are struggling to improve. At the regional level, South Africa is leading, followed by Mauritius, Kenya and Botswana.

Index of Economic Freedom

We are no longer in the Top Ten in the Index of Economic Freedom of The Heritage Foundation since 2014. In 2018, the country retains its 21st position out of 180 countries, obtained in 2017, while in 2016 we ranked 15th. In 2012 and 2013, we were at the 8th position.

Mercer's Quality of Living Survey

There has been a slight improvement in our ranking in the Mercer's Quality of Living Survey 2018. We have moved from the 84th place to the 83rd position. In the past, we had improved our rank from 82nd in 2010 to 59th, but since then we have been performing poorly. 

Press Freedom Index

Mauritius maintains its 2017 position in the Press Freedom Index this year, ranking 56th out of 180 countries. We were 61st in 2016 and 62nd in 2013.

Global Competitiveness Index

In the 2018 Global Competitiveness Index, we are once again at the 45th position, a place we have been occupying since 2016. This is a major improvement since 2010, as we were then at the 57th place.

Other rankings

In the Global Enabling Trade Report, we have fallen from the 64th to the 75th position. We also lost a few places in the Forbes Survey of Best Countries for Business, from the 39th place in 2017 to the 41st place in 2018. But there is also some good news: from the 101st position out of 167 countries in the Logistics Performance Index in 2016, we have managed to climb to the 78th place this year. This is a marked improvement from 2014, when Mauritius was ranked 115th.

Zohra Gunglee: “Ranking is not the main factor for investment”

Zohra Gunglee, economist and university lecturer, says that the improved ranking of Mauritius in the Doing Business Survey will send a positive signal to investors and international economic stakeholders, especially when business confidence was on the decline at some point in time. However, she believes that, while in theory we are improving our procedures and application processes, in practice, bureaucracy still lingers in many cases. “On one side, we are talking about e-licensing, but on the other side, we are still lagging behind on innovation. Innovation can eliminate bureaucracy. There is also a need to spread greater awareness and undertake capacity building and training of officers.” Zohra Gunglee points out that, though a lot has been done to improve ease of doing business, there still exist major bottlenecks, not necessary in the public sector, but also in the private sector. “For example, it takes too long for foreign investors to open a bank account.” She concludes that a global ranking is not always a determining factor for investors, as businessmen invest where there is profitability, security and low risks.

Eric Ng: “We are catching up”

Economist Eric Ng says it’s a good thing that Mauritius is improving on its global ranking in the Doing Business Survey by the World Bank. However, he feels this is not a remarkable achievement as in the past, we even ranked 17th and then fell at the 49th position. “I note that we are now catching up. We had ranked 20th in 2014. Then we lost many places.” To our question whether he thinks Mauritius might soon be in the Top 10, Eric Ng says he does not see this possibility so soon. “But how does it matter if we are 20th or in the Top 10? We may be improving our ranking, but are we really progressing in digital innovation for example? Will our ranking attract global giants like alibaba.com to our shores?” remarks the economist.

Dr Bhavish Jugurnath: “A common country strategy and vision can land us in Top 10”

Dr Bhavish Jugurnath, economist, says there are many ways to interpret the results. It is noteworthy to see the rank of Mauritius improved to 20 in 2018 from 25 in 2017. “I believe the recent legislative amendments through the Business Facilitation Act 2017 and a series of administrative reforms undertaken by Ministries and Public Sector Agencies to improve their procedures contributed to the positive result. Positive results on the key indicators for Mauritius have also contributed,” says the economist. He adds that the success factors for Mauritius are good governance, a well defined and planned strategy and goals that take in all stakeholders, and then executing the various components of the strategy in a timely manner to achieve the goals. “In terms of the Ease of doing business report, as the country transitions moves up the development ladder, more needs to be done by policymakers to unlock the areas of competitiveness conducive to a knowledge-driven economy,” he further states.

He mentions the following areas: higher education, especially its quality; the use of ICT and ability to absorb new technologies such as Blockchain and FinTech, and the capacity to innovate, about which business leaders are particularly concerned. If there is anything to improve for Mauritius to be in the Top 10, it is the importance to get the buy in and commitment of all stakeholders in a common country strategy and vision, and then execute.