Overall, South Africa is ranked 53 out of 148 in the 2013/14 World Economic Forum Global competitiveness report; ranked in the top 15 worldwide in the 2012 Emerging Markets Opportunity Index; first in economic competitiveness in the Africa Competitiveness Report (taking the lead in financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation); and 39 out of 185 countries in the World Bank’s Report on Doing Business.
This result reflects the so-called productivity bias of fast growing economies. Macroeconomic stabilisation has been accompanied by healthy growth rates. Since 1996 output growth has exceeded the euro area average. Greek growth has averaged 3.5 per cent compared with 2.4 per cent in the euro area as a whole.