The report shows that the UAE came in the top three for a number of areas for Government Efficiency including: first place in ‘Public Finance Policies’; second place in ‘Quality of Government Decisions’, and; second place in ‘Adaptability of Government Policy’.

As for the Business Efficiency component, the UAE ranked first in the ‘Need for economic and social reforms’ and second in the ‘Attitudes toward globalization’, which monitors UAE organisations and institutions activities on a global scale.

Under the Infrastructure and Economic Performance components, the UAE retained the first position in the ‘Quality of air transportation’ for the second year in a row and achieved fifth place in the ‘Diversification of the economy’ -two ranks compared to 2014. In addition, the UAE advanced two places globally to second in terms of its image abroad as one of the best countries in the field of purposeful business.

According to Emirates News Agency, the high rank of the UAE in the Global Competitiveness Report are driven by the Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) commitment to towards developing the health, education and social sectors across the country. The 2015 general budget was close to AED49.1 billion (about $13.3 billion), 49% of which were allocated to social and development projects. This has all contributed to the UAE taking the global lead.

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook measures how well countries manage all their resources and competencies to facilitate long-term value creation. The overall ranking released in 2015 reflects more than 300 criteria, approximately two-thirds of which are based on statistical indicators and one-third on an exclusive IMD survey of over 6,000 international executives.