The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia jumped 13 positions, the highest leap among the 63 participating countries, in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019 issued Tuesday by the IMD International Institute for Management Development (IMD), in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is now ranked 26th, making it the 7th most competitive country among its G20 peers, ahead of advanced economies such as Republic of Korea, Japan, France, Indonesia, India, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Republic of South Africa, Brazil and Argentina. A huge achievement for a country that joined the ranking only in 2017. The report measures national competitiveness based on 4 main factors: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. These factors encompass 20 sub-factors and 235 indicators: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made significant progress on the government efficiency factor (from the 30th globally in 2018 to the 18th in the 2019); on the business efficiency factor (from 45th up to 25th for the same period); and on the infrastructure factor (from 44th up to 38th). The Minister of Commerce and Investment and Chairman of the National Competitiveness Centre (Tayseer) Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al Qassabi pointed out 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. Al Qassabi, added that the National Competitiveness Centre, established by Cabinet Decision earlier this year, plays a critical role in raising the competitiveness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and making it a favorable destination for domestic and foreign investors. The Center works very closely with the private sector to alleviate regulatory and procedural burdens and unleash their potential to realize the aspirations of Vision 2030. — SG
