South Africa, which ranked the 40th in 2005 in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness survey, has fallen back to the 45th according to the 2006 report on Tuesday.

The WEF said, "Strong global growth and high commodity prices, combined with buoyant consumer demand have enabled South Africa to grow at a robust rate exceeding four percent since 2004, set to continue this year."

However the WEF added that there were still many problems to be overcome."Despite significant achievements since the ending of apartheid in 1994, South Africa is in many ways still struggling with its legacy, including gross inequalities, high unemployment, major skill shortages, and a striking dichotomy between first and third world characteristics," said the WEF.

The forum added that entrenched inequalities acted as a deterrent to growth, development, employment creation and poverty eradication.

"While economic growth is essential, it is not a guarantee of employment creation, and South Africa's unemployment situation is grave," the WEF said.

The countries that have moved above South Africa now are Barbados which is new entrant at the 31st, Qatar at the 38 th, Malta the 39th India the 43rd and Kuwait the 44th.

Source: Xinhua