The Interrelation between Economic Growth and National Economic Competitiveness

Anotace: Globalization causes large-scale changes in technological, economic, political and social fields of social development. These changes have a contradictory impact on the development of national economies and their competitiveness. Ceteris paribus, there is a tight interrelation between country’s economic competitiveness and a rate of its economic growth: the higher the rates of economic growth in the country, the bigger chance for growth in its national competitiveness and vice versa. Various indicators can be used characterize and estimate a country’s competitiveness, with parameters featured in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) playing a special role. This index is to some extent abstract, and provides only general idea about the type competitiveness formation of a country. It does not allow estimations regarding trends in economic development, as it aggregates 114 indicators which have multidirectional impacts. The key characteristic of national economic competitiveness is a particular country’s ability to achieve steady high growth rates (World Economic Forum). For this reason, we suppose that the one of the main indicators of competitiveness level is GDP per capita, a factor reflects consumption volumes per capita and is highly correlated with the welfare level in the country. The purpose of this research is a comparative analysis of the competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy along with the population’s standard of living with that of other countries, along with the reasoning for the assumption that economic growth rates are necessary for Ukraine to achieve the competitiveness level of other developed countries. We argue that Ukraine and other countries with an average income of 8000-9000 US dollars GDP per capita (PPP) annually should ensure an annual relative growth acceleration of at least 8% to achieve the level of economic development of more highly developed countries.