Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013

Conveyed by this year’s report, Qatar’s strong Competitiveness rests on solid foundation consisting of high quality institutional frame work, stable macro economical environment, and efficient goods market. The high growth combined with prudent governmental support to the financial sector contributed to maintaining a strong macroeconomic and financial suitability.

These factors among many others led Qatar to score a competitiveness record of 5.38 this year, where the rank successfully jumped from number 14 in 2011 up to number 11 in 2012 among a total of 144 countries covered by this year’s Global Competitiveness Report (GCR).

The Report details the country’s economic profile for each of the 144 economies featured in the study, providing a comprehensive summary of the overall position in the Index rankings as well as a guide to what are considered to be the most prominent competitive advantages to each while shedding light to the areas that need more development and support.

The rankings are based on a combination of publicly available hard data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), together with its network of Partner Institutes in the countries covered by the Report.

Throughout seven consecutive years, Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) has been the local exclusive partner of WEF to highlight the strengths of the local economy, especially with respect to the investment climate and opportunities in all areas.

However this year, QBA has partnered with the Social and Economic Research institute (SESRI) to conduct this survey, and the two institutes had put massive efforts to distribute, follow up and collect the survey questionnaire, which is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting the economy expressed by the views of the whole business community, and to deliver a comprehensive overview of the main strengths and weaknesses in the national economy, making it possible to identify key areas for policy formulation and reform.

These results were announced during a press conference that was held in Qatari Businessmen Association offices in the presence of Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, Sheikh Khalid Bin Thani Al Thani, QBA Second Deputy Chairman, and Dr. Darwish Al Emadi, Director of SESRI, along with a vast media audience. 

During the conference Sheikh Faisal stated, "The importance of the report lies in the fact that the survey outlines the factors that determine the degree of productivity in the country and thus the degree of prosperity and progress enjoyed by our local economy, which has effectively achieved a growth rate of 19%, which is the highest rate in the world last year.      .

Commenting on the results Mr. Hussein Alfardan, First Deputy Chairman also highlighted the importance of the progress that Qatar has made during the last three years, "Qatar’s rank has jumped from number 17 two years ago to number 11, which proves that Qatar's economy is growing at a steady pace as a result of the foresight of our leadership."

Additionally, Sheikh Khalid discussed with Sheikh Faisal the importance of this study that was conducted by QBA in partnership with Qatar University, specifically SESRI, which has contributed to submitting this year’s report with international standards. Moreover, the State of Qatar has also assigned a 2% of the GDP to perform such scientific reports and efficient field studies, allowing it to rank 1^st among the Middle East and Africa in this domain.

Given the importance of executing a competent macroeconomic management in the institutions, coupled with world-class educational attainment and a focus on technology and innovation, which favorably boost the competitiveness in an increasingly complex global economy, Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report, while Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position, overtaking Sweden (4th). These and other Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with the Netherlands (5th), Germany (6th) and United Kingdom (8th).

Detailed information of this year’s GCR marks the progress and decline of some countries, while some others maintained their position on the index. On one hand the United States continues to decline from last year’s position, as it falls from 5th to the 7th place, similarly France declined from rank 18^th to 21^st.  

Meanwhile, the Asian Economy still perform strongly with Hong Kong ranking 9^th, Japan 10^th, Taiwan-China 13^th and the Republic of Korea 19^th.

Moving on to the Middle East, Qatar (rank 11^th) leads the region followed by Saudi Arabia at 18^th, the United Arab Emirates improves its performance and ranks 24^th while Kuwait slightly declines and ranked 37^th, while Morocco ranked 70^th and Jordan 63^rd.

This year's report includes a research on selected topics and areas, and analysis of the financial crisis effects on the competitiveness and reviews the challenges of modernization in Latin America, and competitive trends in the sub-Saharan Africa.