While UAE leads the world in income, employment, education, infrastructure, civil society, governance and environment, Oman claims the global top rank for economic stability, health, civil society, governance and environment, a report said.

UAE

The dimensions in which the UAE lags behind other GCC countries are economic stability, health and income quality, added the new report entitled “The Private-Sector Opportunity to Improve Well-Being: The 2016 Sustainable Economic Development Assessment” by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm.

Interestingly, while the UAE showed the strongest recent progress scores in governance and civil society—compared to the GCC region and the rest of the world—it is certainly losing ground across other dimensions.

In addition, the analysis shows that the UAE is not effectively converting its wealth into well-being—or its economic growth into well-being improvements for its citizens. In fact, on both these fronts, the UAE’s performance is below par globally.

The report also discusses the need for the private sector to contribute to improving a country's wellbeing, and specifically looks at the role of the banking sector at creating financial inclusion.   

“We have found a clear and measurable association between financial inclusion—access to basic financial services such as a bank account—and national well-being,” said Douglas Beal, BCG's director of Social Impact and an author of the report. “Today, in the UAE, private sector innovation can play a significant role in improving living standards. But to make meaningful progress in this area, banks must pursue financial inclusion using their core business, and not just pursue typical corporate social responsibility strategies.”

The findings are based on BCG’s latest study of worldwide economic growth trends using the firm’s Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA). The fact-based, comprehensive analysis measures the relative well-being of 163 countries—including the UAE—through ten key areas, including economic stability, health, governance, and environment. SEDA scores countries in two ways: the current level of well-being and recent progress in well-being from 2006 to 2014. It also assesses how countries convert wealth and growth into well-being.  

Overall, when looking at the UAE’s current level of well-being as well as its recent progress in that measure, the nation finds itself in the ‘good but losing ground’ category.

From a regional perspective, the UAE’s current-level scores are mostly above par. In terms of recent-progress scores, when stacked up against the average of the GCC, the nation shows strong gains in sustainability measures—including civil society, governance, and environment. However, there is no denying that it is falling further behind in other areas such as income, economic stability, employment, health, education, and infrastructure.

All in all, when assessing the UAE’s performance versus the rest of the world, it is clear that across various dimensions—such as civil society, governance, education, and infrastructure—the nation is higher and moving further ahead.

Based on BCG’s SEDA analysis, the UAE is lower and falling further behind in economic stability—when pitted against the rest of the world. BCG’s report also reveals that, on a global level, the UAE trails behind other countries in converting both wealth and growth into well-being.

The 2016 SEDA report took a close look at the issue of financial inclusion. The analysis found that the strong link between well-being, as measured by SEDA, and financial inclusion existed even when controlling for income.

“This means that among countries with the same income (GDP per capita) level, those with higher levels of financial inclusion are likely to have higher well-being levels,” added Beal. “Our study finds that two factors are critical to improving financial inclusion: a regulatory structure that provides safeguards but allows innovation and a solid infrastructure, including communications networks and payment systems. With those two elements in place, private-sector innovation in the UAE can flourish.”

Oman

The dimensions in which Oman lags behind other GCC countries are income, employment, education, infrastructure, and income equality. Interestingly, while Oman showed the strongest recent progress scores in employment and infrastructure—compared to the GCC region and the rest of the world—it is losing ground across other dimensions.

In addition, the analysis shows that Oman is not effectively converting its wealth into well-being—in fact, on this particular front, the nation’s performance is below par globally. On the other hand, the data from BCG’s study demonstrates that Oman is able to translate its economic growth into well-being improvements for its citizens at an above-average rate.

The report also discusses the need for the private sector to contribute to improving a country’s wellbeing, and specifically looks at the role of the banking sector at creating financial inclusion.   

“We have found a clear and measurable association between financial inclusion—access to basic financial services such as a bank account—and national well-being,” said Beal.

“Today, in the UAE, private sector innovation can play a significant role in improving living standards. But to make meaningful progress in this area, banks must pursue financial inclusion using their core business, and not just pursue typical corporate social responsibility strategies.”
 
Overall, when looking at Oman’s current level of well-being as well as its recent progress in that measure, the nation finds itself in the ‘good and improving’ category.

From a regional perspective, Oman’s current-level scores are significantly above par in dimensions like economic stability and environment. In terms of recent-progress scores, when stacked up against the average of the GCC, the nation shows strong gains in areas such as infrastructure and employment. However, there is no denying that it is falling further behind in dimensions such as income and governance.

All in all, when assessing Oman’s performance versus the rest of the world, it is clear that across various dimensions—such as income, employment, infrastructure, civil society, economic stability, and health—the nation is higher and moving further ahead.

Based on BCG’s SEDA analysis, Oman is lower but catching up in education—when pitted against the rest of the world.

BCG’s report also reveals that, on a global level, Oman trails behind other countries in converting wealth into well-being.

The 2016 SEDA report took a close look at the issue of financial inclusion. The analysis found that the strong link between well-being, as measured by SEDA, and financial inclusion existed even when controlling for income.

“This means that among countries with the same income (GDP per capita) level, those with higher levels of financial inclusion are likely to have higher well-being levels,” added Beal. “Our study finds that two factors are critical to improving financial inclusion: a regulatory structure that provides safeguards but allows innovation and a solid infrastructure, including communications networks and payment systems. With those two elements in place, private-sector innovation in Oman can flourish.” – TradeArabia News Service