Oman bags top slots in global rank
MUSCAT: The Sultanate has secured six higher positions among the top 10 countries on a number of indicators in the Global Competitiveness Report 2017-18.
The country was ranked third on the lowest cost index of organised crime on business globally and the first in the GCC. It came fifth in the world on the lowest cost of crime and violence index on business and ranked sixth globally on the index of impact of taxes on incentives to work.
Oman was ranked ninth globally on the impact of taxes on investment incentives and tenth in the least wastage of government finances.
The report, prepared by the National Competitiveness Office, showed the country has achieved a remarkable performance in a number of themes.
In the infrastructure sector, the road quality index was ranked 14th globally and second in the GCC.
The mobile phone subscription index was ranked 13th globally.
In terms of efficiency of the commodity market, Oman came first in the GCC in the number of procedures for starting business. It climbed up 23 points from 2016.
It secured first position in the GCC on the index for the time required for starting business, seven points higher than last year. On the imports index as a percentage of GDP, it rose 56 points from last year.
In the macro-economic environment, the report showed the Sultanate had advanced on the inflation index by 47 points from last year. The gross national savings index for the gross domestic product (GDP) showed a significant improvement of 27 points from 2016.
The report showed the country had achieved great improvement in the field of higher education and training, where the rate of enrolment in university education achieved a change in the result from last year by 29 degrees.
In the health and basic education sector, basic education enrolment rate improved by 19 points.
The Sultanate is among the top ten countries in the world ranked first as the country with the least number of HIV/AIDS cases among adults.
The National Competitiveness Office noted that this achievement and improvement in many indicators of the latest Global Competitiveness Report is a result of improved macro-economic environment, higher education and training.
It is also the outcome of the Sultanate’s interest in improving business environment, enhancing domestic and international competitiveness, and national priority indicators in the international indicators system, which culminated in the establishment of National Competitiveness Office, which started carrying out its duties a few months ago.
The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) measures factors contributing to the productivity and prosperity of 137 countries around the world, depending on 12 key categories that are pillars of competitiveness index, namely institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and basic education, commodity markets, labour market efficiency, capital market development, technological readiness, market size, business progress and innovation.