Global Competitiveness Index: the Gulf 14, September 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Qatar, The Gulf.Tags: Global Competitiveness, Golbal Competitiveness Index, Qatar Global Competitiveness
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| Country | 2010 GCI ranking | 2010 GCI score | 2009 GCI ranking | Change from 2009 to 2010 |
| Qatar | 17 | 5.1 | 22 | 5 |
| Saudi Arabia | 21 | 4.95 | 28 | 7 |
| United Arab Emirates | 25 | 4.89 | 23 | -2 |
| Oman | 34 | 4.61 | 41 | 7 |
| Kuwait | 35 | 4.59 | 39 | 4 |
| Bahrain | 37 | 4.54 | 38 | 1 |
Qatar again leads the Gulf in the latest World Bank Competitiveness Index. Indeed, they improved their standing significantly rising from 22nd to 17th in the world and are the highest place Muslim country. Saudi Arabia, who improved too, are now 21st in the world. But, according to various people cognisant of these things this raking is – how to tactful put this? – a joke. The UAE fell two places to 25th while Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain rose.
The Gulf blog 
It has to be a joke. Saudi Arabia ahead of the UAE?
Indeed. As much as Qatar being the no.1 in the Gulf is – I’d have thought – a decent reflection of the status quo of these things, given that Saudi can manifestly manipulate these ratings to this degree, the general validity if not usefulness of this index must be called into question.
Serendipity, Coming Anarchy’s Curzon on Saudi Arabia:
“…In practice, doing business there is a nightmare—it has an opaque legal system, bribery is rampant, visas are absurdly difficult to obtain for entering the country, women cannot leave their homes alone, business and government shuts down five times a day during prayer times and during the Islamic holidays of Ramadan and Eid, and the lifestyle is incredibly restrictive—forget about drinking alcohol, eating pork, or engaging in extramarital dating. Saudi’s KAEC experiment will, in my mind, end up with a city of sandcastles.”
http://cominganarchy.com/2010/09/14/saudi-arabias-sandcastles/
Thanks for the link Paul — put more directly:
“Did Saudi Arabia Bribe the World Bank?”
http://cominganarchy.com/2010/08/02/did-saudi-arabia-bribe-the-world-bank/
[…] Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia doing business trackback As I tactfully alluded to in an earlier post, the recent trend of Saudi Arabia’s high rankings in various global competitiveness type […]
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