DUBAI, 5 June 2006 — The economy of Dubai is one of the most competitive ones with an overall competitiveness ranking of 17 against 61 economies worldwide, according to the ‘Dubai in World Competitiveness Report 2005,’ published jointly by the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
The announcement was made at a press conference at the Dubai Department of Economic Development and attended by Dr. Hischam El Agamy, director of corporate development, IMD, Ali Ibrahim, deputy director General for executive affairs, and Khalid Al Kassim, deputy director general for planning and development.
IMD is the leading independent organization responsible for producing the annual World Competitiveness Yearbook and has analyzed Dubai’s competitiveness against 51 national and 9 regional economies.
The report rates Dubai’s competitiveness with regard to four main factors including economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. Dubai’s economic performance and government efficiency are among the world’s best with the two criteria being accorded 6th and 9th ranks respectively.
“Dubai’s high competitiveness ranking, endorsed by an international institution against some of the major global economies, clearly reinforces the message that the government of Dubai is focusing on implementing business friendly initiatives to offer value-added services to investors,” said Ali Ibrahim. “This report will go a long way toward highlighting the positive trends in Dubai’s economic environment and ensure that Dubai becomes the destination of choice for international investors and multinational corporations,” he added. Dubai’s Business Efficiency has been ranked at 21 based on a number of internal issues for private sector businesses operating in Dubai. These include lack of ready availability of skilled labor, finance and international best practices in auditing and accounting.
Ranking for Dubai’s basic infrastructure is relatively strong at 16 although the emirate’s overall ranking for infrastructure spanning various forms of infrastructure has been classified at 32. The IMD’s definition of infrastructure extends beyond basic infrastructure to educational, technological, health and environmental and scientific infrastructure.
The report provides an unparalleled collection of economic and other data pertaining to Dubai with a total of 314 indicators being included.
The report ranks Dubai as one of the top ten competitive economies in several sub-factor ranking. These include 5th place in the criteria of ease of doing business, employment (2nd place), fiscal policy (1st place), public finance (9th place), labor market (8th place), adaptability of government policy to change in the economy (3rd place).
