Qatar Falls, UAE Maintains Position In World Competitiveness Yearbook

Qatar dropped nine places to 19th while the UAE maintained its position in 8th for the second year running in this year’s World Competitiveness Yearbook.

The ranking from Swiss business school IMD is based on more than 300 criteria, two thirds from statistical indicators and one third from a survey of 4,300 international executives.

The US, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sweden made up the top five in 2014.

Declines in exchange rate stability, direct investment flows inward, Real GDP growth per capita, consumer price inflation and collected total tax revenues were some of the biggest factors affecting Qatar’s ranking this year, according to IMD.

While improvements came in direct investment flows abroad, real short-term interest rate, tourism receipts, patent applications per capita and foreign currency reserves.

For the UAE the biggest declines came in employer’s social security contribution rate, effective personal income tax rate, exchange rate stability, consumer price inflation and real GDP growth per capita.

Government budget surplus/deficit, current account balance, number of patents in force, foreign currency reserves and real short-term interest rates were the biggest improvements.

In the survey, executives selected Qatar’s policy stability and predictability (64.5 per cent), dynamism of the economy (52.5 per cent), access to financing (47.5 per cent), competitive tax regime (39 per cent) and competency of government (36.2 per cent) as the country’s top five key attractiveness factors.

For the UAE, dynamism of the economy (46.2 per cent), business friendly environment (44.2 per cent), competency of government (38.5 per cent), reliable infrastructure (38.5 per cent) and competitive tax regime (34.6 per cent) were the top five attractiveness factors.

IMD said investment in education capabilities to allow more productive Qatari participation in the labour force, improvement in the business and investment climate to attract and retain top international talent, creating greater space for the private sector, promoting greater economic efficiency and managing economic stability and prosperity would be some of Qatar’s biggest challenges this year.

The UAE’s biggest challenges were listed as reducing its ecological footprint, placing higher priority on innovation and R&D and elevating the country’s uptake and performance in the STEM fields.

The Emirates ranked 4th in the survey for its image abroad, with a rating of 8.58 out of 10, while Qatar ranked 10th with a rating of 7.86.

Singapore, Germany, Ireland, the UAE and Canada made up the top five in the image abroad or branding ranking.