KUWAIT CITY, June 24: For the first time, Kuwait has made an entry in the 2023 Global Competitiveness Index, which is issued by the Global Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland. Kuwait was ranked 38th in the world and fifth in the Arab world, after the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, while Jordan ranked last in the Arab world, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The Global Competitiveness Index, which has been issued every year for 35 years, takes into consideration many elements in its methodology, such as economic performance, government effectiveness, business management effectiveness, and infrastructure.

In detail, Kuwait ranked 19th in the economic performance component of the current year, 26th in the government efficiency component, 42nd in the business management efficiency component, and 49th place in the infrastructure component.

According to the Global Competitiveness Index for the year 2023, a remarkable observation was that Saudi Arabia has advanced seven places this year to reach the 17th rank in the world and third in the Arab world, followed by Qatar, which advanced six places to take the 12th place in the world and the second in the Arab world. Bahrain advanced five places and came in the 25th place in the world and the fourth in the Arab world. The UAE advanced only two places but remained the leader in the Arab world at tenth place. Jordan also advanced two places and came in the 54th place in the world and the last in the Arab world at the sixth place.

Globally, Denmark maintained the top position in the Global Competitiveness Index for the current year, followed by Ireland, which advanced nine places. Switzerland came in third place globally, down one place from last year. Singapore also fell to fourth place this year, followed by the Netherlands in fifth place, which also fell one position compared to the 2022 index. Taiwan ranked sixth in the world, advancing one place from last year, Hong Kong ranked seventh in the world, down two places from last year, followed by Sweden in eighth place, down 4 places, then the United States in ninth place, one place ahead of 2022.

As for the countries most lagging behind in the global competitiveness index for the current year, it was noticed that six South American countries occupied 10 bottom positions in the index. Venezuela ranked last at 64th place, preceded by Argentina at 63rd, Mongolia at 62nd, South Africa at 61st, Brazil at 60th, Botswana at 59th, Colombia at 58th, Bulgaria at 57th, Mexico at 56th, and Peru in 55th place.