UAE shows record rise in competitiveness

The UAE have achieved recognisable progress in its global competitiveness ranking this year, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012.

The UAE jumped 12 places – from 28th in 2011 to 16th - in the annual report, which ranks the world’s 59 most advanced countries.  UAE had the greatest ranking increase of any country surveyed.

Strong improvements in business efficiency, productivity and economic performance were the main drivers of the UAE’s increased rankings. Continued modernisation of UAE’s business legislation, which is fundamental to the business environment and competitiveness of the country, also contributed to the increased ranking.

“We are especially pleased with this year’s results as the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is one of the most comprehensive annual global reports on advanced countries’ competitiveness. The fact the greatest ranking improvements were in business efficiencies, namely productivity, management practices, and attitudes and values make these improvements all the more significant, given our peers,” said Reem Al-Hashimy, Minister of State and Chairwoman of the Emirates Competitiveness Council.

Al-Hashimy added: “On-going government investment in infrastructure, education, knowledge industries as well as the reforms and improvements to the business environment are key pillars in the government’s strategy for better future competitiveness.

“We could not have achieved these outcomes without the collaboration of federal and local entities and government bodies working to improve the competitiveness of the country.”

She said: “We also recognize the National Bureau of Statistics in the UAE and the statistics centres in the different emirates for providing accurate data in keeping with international standards. This is significant for the IMD results which are based two-thirds on hard data and one-third on survey responses. We have been strengthening the data culture in the UAE and this has helped in international organizations accurately reflect the performance of the country.”

Abdullah Lootah, Secretary General of the Emirates Competitiveness Council said: “UAE’s ranking can be attributed to the successful policies and breadth of businesses which have created a highly diverse, stable, and competitive business environment across the UAE. In addition, the generally high degree of safety and security in the UAE give it a comparative advantage to other countries in the region.”

He added: “Global competitiveness rankings are a meaningful way to evaluate a country’s progress. Rankings are equally important to private sector and government. Business uses them as a way to assesses potential for growth, investments and to attract long term talent; governments use them to evaluate policies that underpin the business environment and determine areas of legislation and procedural improvements.”

The World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) ranks and analyses 59 countries on the basis of over 300 criteria on how they use their resources to increase prosperity including economic growth, environmental concerns and quality of life.

In other respected competitiveness reports the UAE topped the list of Arab countries and ranked 5th globally in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report for ease of trading across borders. Similarly it ranked 1st among Arab countries and 17th worldwide on the UN's recent World Happiness Report; and in UNDP’s Human Development Report the UAE ranked 1st in the Arab World and 30th internationally.

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