Timor-Leste ranked in top ten for making most progress converting economic growth into wellbeing
Minister of State and of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and
Official Spokesperson for the Government of Timor-Leste
Dili, September 14th, 2016
Timor-Leste ranked in top ten for making most progress converting economic growth into wellbeing
The World Economic Forum has reported that Timor-Leste is ranked in the top ten countries to make the most progress in converting economic growth into wellbeing over the period 2006 to 2014.
The 2016 Sustainable Economic Development Assessment [SEDA] conducted by researchers at the Boston Consulting Group tracked 160 countries across ten dimensions of wellbeing including income, economic stability, employment, health, education, infrastructure, income equality, civil society, governance and environment. According to the World Economic Forum “by measuring how countries perform across all these dimensions, the SEDA establishes which countries are managing, or in some cases failing, to use both their absolute wealth and their economic growth to improve the lives of their citizens.”
In the 2016 SEDA Timor-Leste was ranked 7th in 160 states for making the most progress in converting economic growth into wellbeing. Ethiopia, China and Rwanda took out the top three spots for progress and Norway, the Netherlands and Finland the top three for converting economic growth into wellbeing.
With sustainable improvement in the wellbeing of Timorese citizens at the heart of the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 and the policies and Program of the Sixth Constitutional Government, the results of the 2016 SEDA are very encouraging.
Traditional measurements for economic growth in Timor-Leste have been positive over recent years, especially in the context of a sluggish world economy. Growth in Real Non-Oil Gross Domestic Product was 2.8% in 2013, with forecast growth in the range of 4.1% to 7.5% for the medium term. However the Government recognizes that measurements of Real Non-Oil GDP cannot give a full picture of the country’s performance or indicate how this growth is converted into citizen wellbeing.
Government Spokesperson, Minister of State Agio Periera noted “the strategy of investing to improve social wellbeing, provide quality basic infrastructure, develop economic conditions and upgrade the efficiency and effectiveness of governance, is delivering results. Our top ten ranking for progress in the 2016 SEDA is yet another indication of the positive direction of our development journey.”ENDS
