Prospects for Africa?

Africa is not always what you expect .. it throws up many surprises. Take Swaziland ... while unit labour costs are relatively high compared to other middle income countries, productivity is also as high as in some high performing middle income economies such as China and Thailand.

The country's latest investment climate assessment report prepared by the World Bank states that even though local firms are less competitive than firms in the best performing middle income countries, these still outperform firms in most other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

If you want to find out more about the relationships between African productivity and the global productivity scene, you should attend the World Productivity Congress in South Africa in September 2008.