Jordan and Turkey were the Middle East’s most praised nations for economic competitiveness in the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s newly released international report. Both countries were commended for making significant advancements in the quality of their public institutions in the forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2003-2004.
Jordan, in particular, showed the largest score and rank increase in the area of public establishments, driven by gains in control of corruption and greater independence of the judiciary, said the report. The country also posted better ratings relating to public trust in politicians, diversion of public funds, and the extent of distortive subsidies.
Likewise, but to a lesser extent, Turkey exhibited significant improvements in the control of corruption and the independence of the judiciary, said the report.
The survey’s Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI) aims to analyze the potential of the world’s economies to attain sustained economic growth over the medium and long term. The index is founded on three central components: the macroeconomic environment, the quality of public institutions, and technology.
WEF’s annual report evaluates the potential for sustained economic growth of 102 economies and ranks them accordingly. Geographic coverage this year has increased significantly from 80 to 102 economies. Particular efforts were made to increase coverage of Africa this year with new entrants Algeria and Egypt among others.
Jordan ranked 34th this year on the GCI Index, up from 44 in 2002. Tunisia, the highest-ranking new entrant on the index last year at 34th place, came in at 38th for 2003. Egypt comes back to the rankings at 58th place after being eliminated last year because of problems in the data collection process.
Morocco, also added to the ranking scheme last year, was placed at 61 compared to 55 in 2002. Turkey’s ranking was raised to 65 from 69 and Algeria was placed at 74. Israel ranked 20th on this year’s Index compared to 17 in 2002.
According to the report, Finland is the world’s most competitive economy. The United States is in second position in the rankings, followed by Sweden, Denmark and Taiwan respectively. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
