[Prelims 2020] [Part 1/4] List of Indices and Reports: Economy related – Ease of doing Business, World Economic outlook and more.
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Dear Students,

UPSC has time and again asked questions on reports and indices released by important international and national organizations in Prelims examination.

In this post, we will discuss important Economy-related reports and indices released by international organizations since the 2018-19.

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This is the 1st part of a 4-series of posts on Important Reports and Indices. For students’ ease of reading, we have grouped the posts into the following:

Part 1:  Economy

Part 2: Social (Human Development, Population and migration-related, Health, Gender, etc.)

Part 3: Environment.

Part 4: Miscellaneous.

List of Economy-related Reports and Indices
ReportDetails
Trade and Development Report 2019

-Annual report

Published by: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

  • It examines different aspects of the nature and role of international trade in the era of hyper globalization and considers related policy challenges that will need to be addressed.

India: India’s economy to be world’s 2nd fastest growing at 6%

World Investment Report 2019

-Annual report

Published by: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

  • It focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development.

Key Takeaways: The global FDI slipped by 13% in 2018, to US$1.3 trillion from $1.5 trillion in 2017, the third consecutive annual decline.

India: India received foreign direct investments worth USD 42 billion in 2018

Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), 2019

Biennial report

 

Published by: World Economic Forum (WEF)

  • It measures the set of factors and policies that enable sustainable development of travel and tourism sector which contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country.

Key Takeaways: Spain ranked first

India’s Ranking: India has been ranked 34th in comparison to 40th in 2017

Global Competitiveness Index, 2019

Annual report

Published By: World Economic Forum

  • It assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens

Parameters/Dimensions: 12 pillars: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.

Key takeaways: Singapore ranked first

India’s ranking: India ranked 68th in 2019 in comparison to 58th in 2018

Digital Economy Report 2019

-First Edition

Published by: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

  • The report outlines enormous potential gains from the increasingly interconnected global economy

India: India generated the ninth-highest e-commerce sales globally in 2017 by generating a total business of $400 billion-contribution of this to GDP was 15%.

Ease of Doing Business Index, 2019

-Annual Report

Published By: World Bank

  • It measures regulations across the 190 economies in business regulatory areas to assess the business environment in each economy.

Parameters/Dimensions:

  • Starting a Business,
  • Dealing with Construction permits,
  • Electricity availability,
  • Property registration,
  • Credit availability,
  • Protecting minority Investors,
  • Paying Taxes
  • Trading across borders,
  • Contracts enforcement,
  • Resolving Insolvency,
  • Employing workers
  • Contracting with the government.

Key Takeaways: New Zealand ranked first

India’s ranking: India ranked 63rd in 2019 in comparison to 77th in 2018

World Employment and Social Outlooks Trend 2020

-Annual Report

Published By: International Labour Organization (ILO)

·        It analyses key labour market issues such as unemployment, labour underutilization, working poverty, income inequality, labour Income share and factors that exclude people from decent work.

Key takeaways: Global unemployment is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020

World Economic Outlook, 2019

Biannual

Published by: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Key takeaways: Reduced global growth projection to 2.9 percent in 2019, 3.3 percent in 2020 and 3.4 percent for 2021.

India: Downward India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection to 4.8% for the financial year 2020 (FY20) and 5.8% for FY21.

Inclusive Development Index, 2018Published by: World Economic Forum

  • It is an annual assessment of 103 countries’ economic performance that measures how countries perform on eleven dimensions of economic progress in addition to GDP.

Parameters/Dimensions: It has 3 pillars:

  • growth and development;
  • inclusion
  • intergenerational equity

Key Takeaways: Norway ranked first

India’s ranking: India has been ranked 62nd.

World Talent Ranking Report, 2019

-Annual report

 

Published by: International Institute for Management Development (IMD) based in Switzerland.

Parameters/Dimensions:

  • investment and development,
  • appeal
  • readiness

Key takeaways: Switzerland ranked first

India’s ranking: India ranked 59th out of 63 countries in 2019 compared to 53rd in 2018

Global Wealth Report, 2019

-Annual report

 

Published by: Credit Suisse Group

  • The report tracks both the growth and distribution of wealth in terms of the numbers of millionaires and billionaires and the proportion of wealth that they hold as well as the status of inequality around the world

Key takeaways: Just 47 million people which accounts for 0.9% of the world’s adult population owns $158.3 trillion -almost 44% of the world’s total wealth.

India:

  • The total wealth in India has increased fourfold between 2000 and 2019, reaching $12.6 trillion in 2019.

India ranks fifth globally in terms of the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals

Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), 2018Published by: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

  • It provides information on regulations affecting trade in services in 22 sectors across OECD member countries and non-OECD

India:  The index found Indian services sector as one of the most restrictive particularly in policy areas like foreign entry.

Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019

Annual report

Published by: World intellectual property organisation (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD

  • It quantifies the state of national innovation ecosystem across countries based on 80 indicators.

Key takeaways:  Switzerland ranked first.

India’s Ranking: India improved its ranking by five places to 52nd in 2019 from 57th position in 2018.

Logistics Performance Index, 2018

Biennial report

Published By: World Bank

  • It seeks to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and measures to improve the performance.

Key takeaways: Germany ranked first

India’s Ranking: India ranked 44th.

 

P.S. -Please comment below if we have missed any important indices.

Also, let us know the topics on which you would like us to make next article.

This article is a part of the Series of Articles Important for Prelims 2020. To see the full list of articles, visit this page.
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