South Africa has maintained its financial market development rank of 3rd out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, scoring 5.8 out of 7 points. A year ago, it was ranked 3rd of 144 countries in the report.
A Financial Market worth investing in
According to Monica Singer, the ranking proves that both local and international market players can be confident in South Africa when investing in the country.
South Africa’s financial market infrastructures, such as Strate, were established to enhance investor confidence and the country’s profile as an investment destination as they continue to bring efficiencies and mitigate risks. This has been evident over the past few years as the country continues to be placed on top of the leader board in terms of financial market development,”she says.
Notably, South Africa was ranked first within the financial market development pillar for both its regulation of securities exchanges and legal rights index, as well as second for availability of financial services and financing through the local equity market. It also placed third for soundness of banks within the financial market development pillar in the report.
The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) takes into account 12 pillars or drivers:
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- Institutions,
- Infrastructure,
- Macro-economic environment,
- Health and primary education,
- Higher education and training,
- Goods market efficiency, [/twocol_one]
- Labour market efficiency,
- Financial market development,
- Technological readiness,
- Market size,
- Business sophistication, and
- Innovation.
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Hong Kong and Singapore maintained the first and second ranks respectively for financial market development, while New Zealand was ranked 4th.
