UAE moves forward in international competitiveness report

The United Arab Emirates has moved up three places to rank 24 in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released on Wednesday.

Other Arab countries which also accelerated in the rankings this year include Qatar, also moving up three places in the rankings, Bahrain which moved up two places and Jordan which moved seven places to rank 64.

The Global Competiveness Report is an annual document, which was founded in 1979, was created by professor of economics at Columbia University Xavier Sala-i-Martin and assistant professor at Bocconi University in Italy, Elsa V.Artadi. The report ranks countries based on its global competitiveness index which combines macroeconomic and micro aspects in one index.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE are amongst the top 30 most competitive countries with Qatar leading the way at number 11, just ahead of Saudi Arabia which dropped one place to rank number 18.

Egypt, however, saw a remarked decrease of 13 places to 107.

United States moved down two places to rank in at number seven, just in front of the United Kingdom which shuffled up the rankings two places, while Switzerland and Singapore remain top two ranking countries for a second year running.

The majority of the top 10 ranking countries remain the same with the exception of Denmark which moved down four places to 12 and Hong Kong which moved up two places and into the top ten to rank in at ninth place.