Securing prosperity through structural reforms
Austria's competitiveness is not progressing. This is shown by the World Bank's Doing Business Report 2019 published today. The latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum and the EcoAustria Competitiveness Index (ECI), which measures the development of competitiveness on the basis of net exports and direct investments at home and abroad on a quarterly basis, also come to similar conclusions. In the Doing Business ranking of 190 countries worldwide, Austria is in 26th place in the latest report - seven positions behind the 2017 ranking.
"The efficient design of the institutional framework is of central importance for a country's competitiveness," says Tobias Thomas, Director of the economic research institute EcoAustria. "Austria still has room for improvement here," says Thomas. In the Doing Business Ranking, the sub-indicator "Starting a business" stands out in particular. It takes eight official channels and at least 21 days to set up a company in Austria, while comparable OECD countries require less than five official channels and less than ten days on average. This puts Austria in 118th place out of 190 countries in terms of the time and effort required to set up a company. In New Zealand, for example, only one official procedure is required within half a day.
"If Austria wants to maintain its high level of prosperity, structural reforms are needed," says Thomas. "In addition to more efficient regulation and leaner administration, the sustainable stabilization of public finances by linking the retirement age to life expectancy and a demographically sound reform of care financing are necessary. This can help to ensure that the currently falling national debt or the tax burden does not increase again in the medium term and thus burden the competitiveness of the business location," explains Thomas.
