‘First regionally in SMEs projects’

KUWAIT CITY, May 1: Kuwait has slipped from 54 to 62 globally out of 151 countries in the Elite Quality Index for 2022, scoring 49 points out of 100, reports Al-Rai daily. The “Elite Quality Index” for the third year in a row is issued by the Swiss University of St. Gallen, which specializes in economics, in partnership with the University of Management in Singapore, the Value Creation Foundation based in the Swiss city of St. Gallen, and many international academic partners. In its assessment of the 151 countries, the index is based on 4 concepts to determine the quality of elites in any particular country -- the economic power, economic value, political power and political value. Elites are categorized as very high quality elites (rank 1 to 10), high quality elites (rank 11 to 25), quality elite (rank 26 to 75), medium quality elites (rank 76 to 124), and backward elite (rank above 125). In this context, the quality of elites in Kuwait is above average.

The Elite Quality Index aims to mobilize policy makers to implement structural reforms to create sustainable value, and to motivate non-elites to support inclusive elite business models. It is noteworthy in the study that Kuwait ranked first in the Arab world and 11th globally in the number of small and medium enterprises per 1,000 people, with a score of 67.3 points. The SMEs per 1,000 people index is based on a subset of the SMEs Finance Forum’s SME database, which records the number of officially registered small and medium enterprises (SMEs) per 1,000 people in the economy. The index includes the corporate dominance pillar, which measures the degree of concentrated power in the hands of the country’s leading companies.

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For this purpose, this pillar measures, for example, the market capitalization of the top 10 companies as a percentage of GDP, and the revenue of the 30 largest companies as a percentage of GDP. The Elite Quality Index 2022 (EQx2022) measures the way elites globally contribute to the development of their societies. What is meant by elites is the elites that influence economic and political life and that play a role in the success or failure of the state. Kuwait ranked first in the world in billionaire wealth as a percentage of GDP, recording 62.2 points, and ranked 18th globally in the revenues of the 30 largest companies as a percentage of GDP, and ranked 30 globally in the revenues of the 3 largest companies as a percentage of GDP. The index showed Kuwait’s declined in the research and development index as a percentage of GDP, from 77th to 118th globally, earning 14.5 points.

At the Arab level, the UAE ranked 20, followed by Bahrain 21, Qatar 22, Oman 35, Saudi Arabia 55, and Kuwait 62. In the political corruption index, Kuwait ranked 70th globally, scoring 52.1 points out of 100. This indicator is based on the political corruption subgroup in the Types of Democracies database. In the Diversity and Inclusion Index, Kuwait ranked very late, 129th in the world, with a score of 27.5 points. The index is a construct of 10 indicators such as gender and other forms of discrimination that threaten the economy’s ability to create value.

In the food security index, Kuwait ranked second in the Arab world after Qatar and 12th globally, with a score of 81 points. Kuwait 114 globally with missed school days and 26 with “Corona” vaccination In the sub-index related to school days lost due to Covid-19, Kuwait ranked 114th globally, recording 21.2 points, and ranked 30th globally in the electronic services index, fourth globally in Internet access, 51st in the network readiness index, and tenth in state spending on public services as a percentage of GDP. In the index of the rate of vaccination against “Corona”, Kuwait ranked third in the Arab world and 26 globally, with a score of 77 points.