Tanzania has performed dismally in this year global ranking in the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity. The Global Competitiveness report released yesterday show that Tanzania has dropped by 13 ranks compared to its performance last year. In East Africa the country is position at number three, one position below its last year performance.

The pursuit of relegated educational system and the poor state of infrastructure have been cited by the report as two major factors which hamper country's efforts to improve its competitiveness, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) which prepares the report.

The WEF's Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2010-2011, released yesterday in the Chinese Province of Tianjin ahead of the organisation's annual meeting, ranks Tanzania in 113th position -slipping 13 places from the 100th position that the country held in the GCR 2009-2010. GCR usually examines a country's performance in 12 issues of institutional, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training as well as goods market efficiency.

Other factors include labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and the level of innovation in the market. The report ranks Tanzania in 128th position out of 139 surveyed countries in as far as the infrastructure aspect is concerned, basing it's findings on poor-quality roads, ports, and electricity supply and few telephone lines.

"Infrastructure in the country is underdeveloped, with poor-quality roads, ports, and electricity supply and few telephone lines," reads the report in part. But in a rejoinder, permanent secretary in the Infrastructure Development ministry, Mr Omari Chambo faulted the report saying it erred in the infrastructure aspect.

"In my view, the government is doing everything in its capacity to improve infrastructure in the country... plans to connect the entire Mainland with tarmaced roads is well on track... there is need to recommend the government for the major steps that have been recorded in the recent years," Mr Chambo told The Citizen during telephone interview.

In the education aspect, WEF commends Tanzania's increasing primary school enrolment rates. It however advises the country to increase enrolments at secondary and university levels. WEF also wants Tanzania to fine-tune the quality of education as a whole. The country is ranked 136th on the aspect of enrolment at secondary and university levels.

"Enrolment rates at the secondary and university levels are among the lowest in the world... the quality of the educational system requires upgrading," the report says. Education and Vocational Training minister, his deputies and the permanent secretary could not be reached for comments yesterday. Consequently, Tanzania is ranked 131st in the aspect of technological readiness - being among the lowest in the world.

The country also performs poorly (ranked 119th) in the aspect of basic health of the workforce. It says the country's workforce is characterised by high levels of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV. On the positive note, WEF says Tanzania benefits from public institutions characterised by reasonable public trust of politicians. The country is ranked 62nd in this aspect.

The country is also fair when dealing with the private sector and is therefore ranked 50th. "In addition, some aspects of the labour markets lend themselves to efficiency, such as the high female participation in the labour force," reads the report, ranking the country 6th globally in this aspect. Tanzania is fair when it comes to dealing with issues pertaining to taxation and redundancy costs. The drop in ranking puts East Africa's second largest economy in the third place at regional level after Rwanda and Kenya.

Globally, Kenya also dropped eight steps from 98th position in WEF's 2009-2010 report to 106th in the new report. Rwanda, which enters the GCI for the first time this year, is the most competitive economy among the East African Community (EAC) member states and is 80th globally. President Paul Kagame's country is credited for its strong and well-functioning institutions, with very low levels of corruption (certainly related to the government's non-tolerance policy) and an excellent security environment.

"Labour markets are highly efficient, financial markets are relatively well developed, and Rwanda is characterised by a high capacity for innovation for a country at its stage of development," the report reads. But like Tanzania, Rwanda also faces the challenge of improving its infrastructure (especially electricity and telephony), low secondary and university enrolment rates, and the poor health of its workforce.

Uganda, maintains its fourth position at EAC and 118th position globally while Burundi, the other EAC partner state is only third from the last at global level. It holds the 137th position. Country coverage Apart from Rwanda, other new entrants into the survey include Angola, Cape Verde and Swaziland in Africa as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanon in the Middle East as well as Moldova.

The order of best performing African economies (from one to ten) include Tunisia, South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia, Morocco, Botwana, Rwanda, Egypt, Algeria and The Gambia. Globally, Switzerland tops the overall ranking, while the United States had dropped two more places to fourth position, overtaken by Sweden and Singapore in the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. Other countries on the top ten include Germany, Japan, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark and Canada.