The Global Competitiveness Report makes for uncomfortable reading: Jamaica’s competitiveness position has slipped from 63 (in 2006) to 101 (in 2011). Although the number of countries ranked in 2006 moved from 117 to 142 in 2011, Jamaica’s competitiveness position has deteriorated. This decline is manifested in the weak economic growth and, in some cases, negative growth that the economy has experienced over the last four decades and even more-so over the last five years.