Saudi Arabia jumped 13 places in one ranking on world competitiveness as the Kingdom’s economic reforms continue to gather steam.
63 countries participated in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019 issued this week. Saudi Arabia was 26th overall in the ranking, and the 7th most competitive country among its G20 peers.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia jumped 13 positions, the highest leap among the 63 participating countries
IMD highlighted Saudi investment in education, as well as the quality of public and business finance, as factors behind the improvement. Christos Cabolis, chief economist and head of operations at IMD’s World Competitiveness Center, said the Kingdom invested nearly double the global average on education. “Saudi Arabia spends 8.8 percent of its gross domestic product on education, against a global average of 4.6 percent.”
He also noted the efficiency of public-sector finance and the stability of Saudi Arabia’s tax regime as factors in the improved ranking. “The message is to keep up the good reforms and attempt to be more transparent.”
The report measures national competitiveness based on 4 main factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.
Dr. Majed Al-Qassabi, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the National Competitiveness Center (Tayseer), said that the exceptional performance of the Kingdom “is the result of an ambitious cross-sectoral and collaborative work, involving more than 40 government agencies, all aligned with the aspirations of Vision 2030 to improve the competitiveness of the Saudi economy,” according to AME Info.
