Greece ranks nearly last in competiveness assessment

06/06/2012

Already on the ropes, Greece’s image suffers another blow. Also in business news: the dinar has seen sharp drops recently amid pressures caused by expansive fiscal policies and Istanbul hosted the 42nd annual World Economic Forum.

Fire fighters protest the non-renewal of their contracts outside Greece's top court in central Athens on May 30th. According to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, Greece ranks 58th among 59 countries in managing economic and human resources. [Reuters]

Greece is almost at the bottom of the latest World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, published by the Swiss-based management institute IMD on Thursday (May 31st). The state is at 58th in the list of 59 countries. The other countries from the region included in the ranking are Turkey at 38th, Romania at 53rd, Bulgaria at 54th and Croatia at 57th. The yearbook measures how well countries manage their economic and human resources to increase their prosperity.

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Serbia's Central Bank announced on Monday (June 4th) that it has sold 18.5m euros in an effort to "ease excessive daily volatility" of the exchange rate between the euro and the local currency. The dinar has seen sharp drops recently amid pressures caused by expansive fiscal policies and broadening budget and current account deficits.

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Istanbul hosted the 42nd annual World Economic Forum on Monday (June 4th) and Tuesday. This marked the first time that the forum discussed problems facing several regions in Europe, the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eurasia. The event, which took place under the theme "Bridging Regions in Transformation," drew more than 1,000 participants from 70 countries.

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The world's biggest shipping fair kicked off in Athens on Monday (June 4th). The five-day biennial event called "Posidonia" has attracted a record 1,870 exhibitors from 87 countries and is expected to draw more than 17,000 visitors.

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The European Commission (EC) has recommended that Bulgaria be removed from a list of countries facing sanctions over their excessive budget deficit, EC President Jose Manual Barroso was quoted as saying on May 30th. The so-called excessive deficit procedure of the EU affects member states with deficits over 3% of GDP. Bulgaria was able to narrow its budget gap to 2.1% of GDP last year from 3.8% in 2010.

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A planned highway that will connect Turkey and Bulgaria will also include Romania, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced on Monday (June 4th), responding to an invitation from Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov to join the project. Bulgaria, Turkey and Qatar agreed last month to implement the 777m-euro project which will be implemented under a public-private partnership.

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Turkey's Constitutional Court rejected a claim Friday (June 1st) by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) seeking to ban a law permitting the construction of a nuclear plant in the southern province of Mersin. The plant, a joint project between Turkey and Russia, will have four reactors and a capacity of 4.8 gW. Its construction on the Turkish shore of the Mediterranean Sea is set to kick off in mid-2014.

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Macedonia's government presented a package of 12 economic and social measures on Saturday (June 2nd), including four aimed at creating between 6,000 and 8,000 new jobs. The rest of the measures aim to support businesses, families at risk, agricultural producers and people working in the transportation sector. The government plans to set aside 13m euros to fulfill the measures.

(Various sources -- 30/05/12-06/06/12)

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.