Qatar continues to host the Middle East’s most competitive economy, according to newly released figures from the World Economic Forum.

The Gulf nation ranked 11th out of 144 countries in this year’s Global Competitiveness Report, up three spots from last year, and trailing only larger developed nations such as the US, UK, Japan, Germany and Switzerland, which ranked number 1.

Saudi Arabia remains in the top 20 at 18th. The UAE improved slightly, ranking 24th, while Kuwait fell to 37th. According to the report, most countries in the MENA region “continue to require efforts across the board to improve their competitiveness.”

The WEF states that Qatar continue to score well for the following reasons:

Low levels of corruption and undue influence on government decisions, high efficiency of government institutions, and high levels of security are the cornerstones of the country’s very solid institutional framework, which provides a good foundation for heightening efficiency. 

The trustworthiness of Qatar’s financial markets also improved this year from 80th to 44th, the report stated. It continued:

Going forward… reducing the country’s vulnerability to commodity price fluctuations will require diversification into other sectors of the economy and reinforcing some areas of competitiveness…Given its high wage level, diversification into other sectors will require the country to raise productivity by continuing to promote a greater use of the latest technologies (27th) and by fostering more openness to foreign competition—currently ranked at 42nd, reflecting barriers to international trade and investment.

Below is the part about Qatar. Read the full report here.

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Credit: Photo by Jimmy Baikovicius