UAE among top 20 economies

dubai — The UAE was ranked first regionally and 16th globally, maintaining its lead among the top 20 competitive economies in the world, according to the latest Global Competitiveness Report 2016 issued by the World Economic Forum.

The report is one of the most important global competitiveness reports, which monitors annual performance and competitiveness of the economies of countries in terms of strength, weakness, impact on quality of life, prosperity and wellbeing of people.

“The UAE positions itself on the world stage, thanks to the efforts of the federal and local taskforces who are working as one team under one vision for 2021, and others in this respect,” said Reem Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairperson of the Board of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority.

These taskforces work in accordance with the plans and strategy and subject to continuous evaluation and development in line with the aspirations of the wise leadership to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world by 2021 with the advent of the golden jubilee on the establishment of the union, she added.

This year’s report surveys the economies of 138 countries rated through 114 performance indexes and in 12 basic axes, including institutions, infrastructure, education, health, innovation, efficiency of the labour market and other topics. Evaluation is based on statistics and data from participating countries in the report in terms of opinion polls and surveys on executives and major investors in those countries.

The UAE was ranked in the first 10 positions globally in three basic themes in the report. It is also among the best 20 countries globally in half of these axes. The UAE came in third place globally in the axis of efficient goods market, which is the sign of success of the diversification policy of the economy in the state, clarity of vision and strategic plans on the performance and efficiency of the business market. It also came in fourth place globally in the infrastructure hub.

At the level of indicators, the UAE was ranked among the 20 countries globally in 76 out of 114 indicators evaluated in this report. Regarding the institutions, the UAE was ranked first globally in the absence of the impact of crime and violence at work index, and second place globally in the people’s trust in the leadership and lack of wasteful government spending indexes. — Wam