ABU DHABI 17 June 2020: For the fourth year in row, the United Arab Emirates is leading the Mena region in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020, issued by the World Competitiveness Centre of the World Institute for Management Development (IMD), in Lausanne, Switzerland.
It puts the UAE at 9th place among the most competitive countries in the world.
The UAE maintained its position among the top ten competitive countries in the world in 2020, ahead of countries such as the United States, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, and the United Kingdom, to be the only Arab country that succeeded in asserting itself in the Big Ten Club in the World Competitiveness Yearbook for four years in a row, since joining the top ten in 2017, despite the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic that influenced the 2020 edition.
According to the results of the report, the United Arab Emirates ranked first globally in 23 indicators and sub-factors, while it ranked among the top five globally in 59 indicators and in top ten globally in 106 indicators, out of 338 indicators covered by the report this year, said Wam.
The IMD World competitiveness yearbook 2020 relies on questionnaires collected (33.33 percent) and on statistics and data provided by countries (66.67 percent). The report focuses in its classification of the countries on four factors (Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure) with 20 sub-factors each that cover 338 competitive indicators in various economic, financial, legislative, management and social fields, along with some new indicators added in this year’s edition of the yearbook. Some of the new additions reflect the importance of achieving sustainable development objectives, and provide a vision of the economy’s position with respect to the various sustainable objectives that must be met within ten years, such as education, environment, empowerment, ageing and health.
UAE takes the lead in 7 factors At the sub-factors level, the UAE achieved an improvement in 7 factors, ranking at 1st place globally in the Labor Market factor, and the 5th globally in the Employment Factor, the 6th place in the Pricing Factor. The UAE is also advancing in other sub-factors, such as the social framework, education, and technology, health and the environment infrastructures, while maintaining its rank unchanged in two sub-factors, the factor of Attributes and Values (second in the world) and the factor of Tax Policy (third in the world).
Fourth in Economic Performance despite pandemic
Despite the emergency circumstances that the whole world is going through because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE has achieved a balanced performance in the factors of the report, as it moved forward three places in the Economic Performance factor, with the Netherlands topping the global ranking, followed by The United States and Singapore, while the UAE ranked 4th in the world, moving forward three places comparing to last year’s report, ahead of countries such as Germany, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Canada, Japan and others.
UAE is leading the world in 23 indicators The UAE ranked first globally in 23 indicators included in the report within its factors and sub-indicators. In addition, the UAE ranked first globally in the indicators: Bureaucracy Absence, Immigration Laws, Redundancy Costs, low Central Government Foreign Debt, Tax Evasion, Collected Personal Income Tax (%), Collected Indirect Tax Revenues (%), Real Personal Taxes, and the percentage of Females in Parliament, all of which are indicators included in the factor of the Government Efficiency and its sub-factors.
Furthermore, the country ranked first globally in many other indicators such as Labour Force out of the total population, Working Hours, Competent Senior Managers, Industrial Disputes and Foreign Labour Force, all of which are included in Business Efficiency factor. The UAE once again topped the ranks globally in indicators such as Dependency Ratio, Public-Private Partnership and Environmental Laws within the factor of infrastructure and its sub-factors.
No. 1 globally in female parliamentary representation index
H.H. Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of Dubai Women Establishment, and wife of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, congratulated the UAE’s leadership for the country’s No. 1 global ranking in the female parliamentary representation index of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020, issued by the World Competitiveness Centre of the World Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
She also extended her congratulations to the H.H. Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union (GWU), President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation (FDF) on this achievement. She praised Her Highness’ support for Emirati women through initiatives and programmes aimed at advancing their roles across social, educational, and professional spheres. The UAE’s latest ranking reflects global recognition of the country’s gender balance achievements, she noted.
Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed said: “Gender balance was among the principles on which the UAE was founded nearly five decades ago, stemming from the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s belief that women are equal partners in achieving sustainable development. Today, we reap the fruits of this vision – which our leadership instilled through various legislations, initiatives, and programmes – leading to the establishment of gender balance across all sectors.”
The President of the UAE Gender Balance Council expressed her pride in the UAE’s top ranking, saying this was made possible by the UAE leadership’s confidence in the integral role played by women in achieving prosperity in the country.
She added that the directives of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, issued in December 2018, to raise Emirati women’s parliamentary representation in the Federal National Council (FNC) to 50% was a historic step that motivated women to stand for election, in turn enhancing their roles as vital contributors and decision makers in government.
Sheikha Manal stated: “Since the launch of the UAE Gender Balance Council in 2015, we have taken all the necessary steps to enhance the UAE’s position in global competitiveness reports and to establish our nation as a regional and global model for gender balance legislation.”
She further said: “Through the Council’s efforts and the cooperation of all UAE private and public institutions, we will double our efforts to further establish the UAE as a pioneer in the field of gender balance. We are currently working on the Council’s future strategy, which is linked to the UAE’s vision for the next 50 years. We want to maintain the momentum for progress and strive to be the world’s leading nation by the UAE’s Centennial in 2071. The strategy will focus on exploring new heights that take us from bridging gaps and adopting best practices to being a global reference for gender balance.”
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