The newly released WEF Global Competitive Index ranks South Africa as the 47th most competitive economy of the 138 studied. The improvement in the rankings, the best in five years, comes as the country has improved both the competitiveness of its markets and relationships between labour and business, one has made modest, but important, progress in the quality of education, which is up five places from 2015.

One reason for South Africa's rise in the annual appraisal of prosperity and productivity is, according to the report, our ability to withstand the fall in price of commodities. Unlike African neighbours and other developing economies, South Africa has also built on the strength of its financial sector, which shielded the country from the worst effects of the global economic crisis.

South Africa is ranked first out of 138 countries for auditing standards, the protection of minority investors and ability to finance through equity markets. The country is second or third for soundness of banks and financial services, efficacy of boards and regulation of the stock exchange.