UNCTAD launches new index for countries to better measure economic potential - Countries can use the new generation Productive Capacities Index to look beyond gross domestic product as a metric for economic progress.
The launch of a new generation Productive Capacities Index (PCI), the first of its kind, discovering new dimensions of economic potential which promise to revolutionize how countries measure and develop their productive capacities.
PCI assists in the identification of economy-wide gaps, limitations, and areas for policy intervention across regions and nations, backed by decades of research and support to vulnerable nations.
PCI encompasses a range of indicators, including energy, human capital, natural capital, private sector, transport, structural change, institutions, and ICTs.
Productive capacities are key to long-term development
By measuring the economy from an input perspective across eight core components of productive capacities, the PCI more fully captures economic potential and highlights key areas for development policy focus. These are natural capital, human capital, energy (electricity), ICTs, structural change, transport, private sector and institutions, which are mapped using 42 indicators.
Stronger productive capacities in these areas can help countries move towards long-term national development goals and achieve international targets like the Sustainable Development Goals.
Paul Akiwumi, UNCTAD’s director for Africa and least developed countries, said: “The new generation PCI is a timely contributor to development policymaking. Against the turbulent global economic backdrop, reliable, up-to-date and accurate data can help governments react by focusing on the most pressing development issues.”
The new PCI also helps shape long-term planning. “What we can diagnose and show with the PCI are the underlying factors that are holding back countries from meeting their trade and development potential, such as key infrastructure gaps in transportation, ICT development and energy,” Mr. Akiwumi added.
Learn more about the PCI here: https://unctad.org/news/unctad-launches-new-index-countries-better-measure-economic-potential
