The UAE jumped five positions to rank among the world's top 10 most competitive economies for the first time in the annual rankings of the IMD World Competitiveness report 2017, a report said.

Hong Kong has consolidated its dominance of the annual rankings, taking the top spot for the second year. Switzerland and Singapore came in second and third, with the USA ranking fourth, its lowest position in five years and down from third last year. The Netherlands completed the top five, jumping up from eighth last year.

The UAE, placed 10th on the list, is the only Arab country to find a place among the super league of the global top 10 nations, as the reform announced by the UAE government at the beginning of 2015 seems to be paying off, reported WAM, the official Emirates news agency.

As the global progress towards the digital economy gains momentum, the UAE is leading the region's digital transformation with a host of innovative programmes to enhance its networked readiness.

Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation Affairs and Chairperson of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority, said: "Every year, the UAE demonstrates to the whole world the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall development strategy adopted by the UAE government under the vision and guidance of its wise leadership, based on investing in human development, stimulating innovation, development and continuous modernisation."

"We congratulate the UAE and its people on this feat, and thank all federal government agencies for their concerted efforts to support the UAE's global competitiveness," she added.

"The adoption of international standards and indicators to assess the performance and competitiveness of the federal and local government institutions, helps us to perform our mission of providing consultancy for the development of performance, and working with these institutions to transform proposals into plans, initiatives and strategies aimed at improving the global competitiveness of the state and achieving the UAE Vision 2021 to become one of the best countries in the world by the Golden Jubilee of the Union," said Abdullah Nasser Lootah, director-general of the Federal Authority for Competitiveness and Statistics.

The IMD World Competitiveness Center, a research group at IMD business school, in Switzerland, has published the rankings every year since 1989. It compiles them using 260 indicators, about two thirds of which come from ‘hard’ data such as national employment and trade statistics; and a third from more than 6,250 responses to an Executive Opinion Survey that measures the business perception of issues such as corruption, environmental concerns and quality of life. This year 63 countries are ranked with Cyprus and Saudi Arabia making their first appearance.

Professor Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, said the indicators that stood out among the most improved countries are related to government and business efficiency as well as productivity.

“These countries have maintained a business-friendly environment that encourages openness and productivity,” he said. “If you look at China, its improvement of seven places to 18th can be traced to its dedication to international trade. This continues to drive the economy and the improvement in government and business efficiency.”
 
The bottom of the table, meanwhile, is largely occupied by countries experiencing political and economic upheaval. “You would expect to see countries such as Ukraine (60), Brazil (61) and Venezuela (63) here because you read about their political issues in the news. These issues are at the root of poor government efficiency which diminishes their place in the rankings,” said Bris.

 Digital Competitiveness Ranking

For the first time this year, the IMD World Competitiveness Center is publishing a separate report ranking countries’ digital competitiveness. Indicators for technology and scientific infrastructure are already included in the overall rankings. The new Digital Competitiveness Ranking, however, introduces several new criteria to measure countries’ ability to adopt and explore digital technologies leading to transformation in government practices, business models and society in general.

At the top of the ranking is Singapore, followed by Sweden, the USA, Finland and Denmark. - TradeArabia News Service