16/06/2022
19266 times read
16/06/2022
19266 times read
UAE tops MENA region in Global Competitiveness Index ’22
KUWAIT CITY, June 16: The name of Kuwait is missing from the Global Competitiveness Index for 2022, for the fourth year in a row, as the last classification of the country within the index was in 2018, when it ranked 54th globally, reports Al-Rai daily. The index, issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), based in Switzerland, measures the competitiveness of 63 countries across 4 main axes – economic performance, government efficiency, the effectiveness of the business environment and infrastructure – with the aim of analyzing the ability of countries to create, maintain and develop a supportive and stimulating environment for competitiveness. For the sixth year in a row, the UAE topped the list at the regional level, ranking first in the Middle East and North Africa, despite the decline in its rating by 3 places to 12th globally
Surpassed
The UAE has surpassed countries such as Luxembourg, Canada, Germany, China, Austria, Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, while it ranked first globally in 19 indicators, and ranked first in the world in 62 indicators, and among the top ten globally in 100 indicators, out of a total of 334 indicators covered by the report this year. The State of Qatar ranked second regionally after the UAE and 18th globally, followed by Saudi Arabia, which advanced by an average of 8 places, to be ranked third regionally and 24th globally, after it was ranked 32nd globally in 2021. Bahrain, which enters the report for the first time this year ranked 30th globally, while Jordan ranked 56th, down seven places from last year. Globally, Denmark replaced Switzerland at the top in world ranking, advancing from third place, followed by Switzerland in second place and Singapore in third place.
Negative
The “Corona” pandemic topped the report accompanying the index this year, due to its enormous negative consequences on local economies, especially those that impose restrictions on the movement of individuals and businesses, in addition to the increase in new mutations after it was thought that the virus was waning. “It is clear that inflationary pressures are exacerbating bottlenecks in supply chains around the world, and they are affecting the performance of most of the economies covered by the report,” said Christos Kapolis, chief economist at IMD’s Center for Global Competitiveness. He added that among the other global challenges that have an impact on the competitiveness of countries are the “Corona” mutants that appear with different severity in relation to the number of infected people around the world, and the restrictions they carry with them, and the difference in national policies in dealing with the pandemic (the policy of leniency or imposing severe restrictions) and the Russo-Ukrainian War.