Oman slips 16 slots to 62nd in WEF competitiveness ranking

10/4/2015 12:48:33 PM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)Muscat-

Oman has slipped to 62nd place in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual global competitiveness ranking this year down 16 places from the previous year's 46th.

While the sultanate's ranking slipped to the lowest in the GCC it was still ranked the sixth most competitive nation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The WEF released its Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 on Wednesday which analysed 140 countries this year compared to 144 countries surveyed last year. Switzerland topped the rankings followed by Singapore and the United States.

Qatar was ranked the most competitive economy in the MENA region with 14th place globally followed by the UAE which was rated 17th. Despite ranking second in the region the UAE slipped five places from last year while Qatar moved up two places.

Saudi Arabia's ranking slipped one notch to 25th while Kuwait and Bahrain ranked 34th and 39th respectively. Oman posted the biggest drop in MENA this year.

There are stark differences in competitiveness across the MENA region WEF said in its report. 'Led by Qatar and the UAE many GCC countries are already fairly competitive and can build on past progress to improve further. However Levant and North Africa lag significantly behind the best performers being Jordan (64th) and Morocco (72nd).

Among the 12 categories that constituted the WEF survey Oman's best performance was in 'macroeconomic environment' in which it ranked 19th. The country also performed well in the 'institutions' and 'infrastructure' categories with rankings of 31st and 36th respectively.

Oman was designated 45th in 'financial market development' and 52nd in 'goods market efficiency'.

The country performed worst in the 'innovation' category ranking 103rd globally. The sultanate also ranked behind its GCC peers in 'higher education and training' and 'labour market efficiency'. In terms of 'market size' Oman was 64th while in 'business sophistication' it ranked 71st.

Although most countries in MENA the report said have made progress in improving competitiveness the region is marked by fragility and vulnerability to shocks. Rising geopolitical security concerns made it impossible to cover Yemen Syria or Libya in this year's report.

The WEF noted that despite the diversity of their economies most of the region's countries share the majorand dauntingchallenge of creating sufficient employment opportunities for their youthful populations.

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