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The Annual Report is published by Switzerland's Institute of Management Development (IMD).
In this year's report, South Africa improved its previous ranking of 53 in 2013 to 52 in 2014.
The WCY ranking is an annual report on the competitiveness of selected countries and is recognised internationally as the leading survey of competitiveness between nations.
The director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre, Professor Stephane Garelli, said "economic growth remains a prerequisite for competitiveness".
The yearbook rated the ability of 60 industrialised and emerging economies "to create and maintain an environment that sustains the competitiveness of enterprises".
"The results are a reflection of a firm foundation that South Africa has to possess to be competitive in the global economy. Product quality, cost of production, managerial capacity and labour skills are critical drivers of competitiveness which the country has a large degree of control over," said Sello Mosai, executive manager, value chains and competitiveness at Productivity SA.
Mosai said the foundation set by the long-term plan in the form of the National Development Plan (NDP), as well as the infrastructure provided by the potential capacity to respond to product quality, cost of production, as well as managerial wherewithal and labour skill, there is no reason why South Africa cannot improve and move into the top twenty of the rankings in the next five years.
Meanwhile the chairperson of Productivity SA, Alwyn Nel, said the potential for economic growth in the country is massive and alignment with the NDP may see the country up its competitiveness even more significantly.
According to the WCY 2014, the US remains the most competitive economy in 2014. The top four countries are US, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.
