SA moves up four places in reputation study

Welcoming the news that the country is ranked 45th out of 71 countries measured in the study, Brand South Africa’s chief executive officer Dr Kingsley Makhubela said the performance of the country in such indices will assist in improving the economy.

“South Africa’s performance in such indices encourages national efforts by government, business, civil society and South African’s in general – to strengthen recovery strategies that’ll ensure that we improve our economy, and global competitiveness,” he said.

South Africa scored 55.1 points (out of a possible 100), versus the 49.2 points in 2016, which gave it a rank of 49th.

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This year’s results show an improvement both in terms of how respondents in the G8, and South Africans perceive the country in terms of its reputation.

Amongst the BRICS (BRAZIL, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, the country is positioned in third place with Brazil and India in first and second places respectively. The 2017 results show that the United States of America’s perceived reputation has fallen behind South Africa, placing it at 47th out of the 71 countries measured.

The study evaluates country reputations amongst the general population of the “G8” countries (UK, Italy, France, Canada, US, Japan, Germany and Russia), while also providing an internal assessment from the perceptive of South Africans.

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According to the G8 countries, factors driving South Africa’s reputation and improvement in the rankings come as a result of advancements in areas of: progressive social and economic policies, a well-educated and reliable workforce, production of high quality products and services, that the country values education, beautiful landscape, and it’s friendly and welcoming people.