South Africa: the good, the bad and the ugly

World Economic Forum’s Financial Development Report shows where South Africa excels, and where it performs poorly

November 1, 2012

The World Economic Forum has recently released its Financial Development Report, showing that South Africa is one of the worst countries globally when it comes to broadband, Internet, and fixed telephone subscriptions.

The Financial Development Report, which identifies and ranks countries on the factors that play a crucial role in achieving economic growth, ranked South Africa at number 28 out of the 62 countries surveyed.

South Africa performed particularly well in the following categories (Rank out of 62 countries):
Insurance (5th)
Efficacy of corporate boards (1st)
Strength of auditing and reporting standards (1st)
Protection of minority shareholders’ interests (2nd)
Regulation of securities exchanges (1st)
Strength of legal rights index (1st)
Strength of investor protection index (9th)
Cost of starting a business (2nd)
Frequency of banking crises (1st)
Output loss during banking crises (1st)
Life insurance penetration (2nd)
Life insurance density (6th)
Stock market capitalization to GDP (2nd)
Stock market value traded to GDP (9th)
Financial market sophistication (3rd)
Financing through local equity market (2nd)

The picture looked far less rosy when it came to the country’s infrastructure and telecommunications services.

The quality of South Africa’s electricity supply was worse than most countries surveyed, and the country’s fixed line telecoms market was at the bottom of list.

The following image provides an overview of how South Africa performed in the telecoms and Internet arena when compared to its international counterparts.