Qatar has ranked fifth in economic performance, according to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2018, annually published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).

Qatar was rated 10th globally for government efficiency, 13 for business efficiency and maintained its ranking at 38 for infrastructure.

According to the yearbook, Qatar ranked 14 out of 63 mostly high-income countries, which confirms Qatar’s strong performance across various fields.

The evaluation is based on a range of statistical indicators collected from different local and international statistical sources, as well as from opinions collected via surveys distributed to more than 200 local business leaders, who frankly provided their views of Qatar’s economy competitive position.

This ranking has been positively influenced by many factors including strong economic performance as represented by, Qatar’s low unemployment rate, and the high percentage of gross fixed capital formation (capital investments) and saving to GDP, the high percentage of trade balance to GDP, and the high level of overall productivity.

The assessment of Qatar’s competitiveness in IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2018 is a collaborative effort of IMD and the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. Qatar has contributed to the IMD Competitiveness Yearbook for the 10th time.

HE the Minister of Development Planning and Statistics Dr Saleh Mohamed Salem al-Nabit said: “These results confirm that our overall performance is solid, and they will certainly help us to identify those areas where we need to consolidate gains and make further improvements”.

He pointed out that Qatar’s Second National Development Strategy (2018-2022) sets out clear goals in the areas of economic infrastructure and private sector development that will lead to economic and social growth.

“Qatar has no option but to diversify its economy. To achieve this, we must continuously work to increase efficiency and productivity and improve our international competitiveness. These results show us where we need to increase our efforts and improve further. The IMD findings will be carefully studied and, along with other indicators, will help us to exert our efforts to bolster our economy further,” HE Dr al-Nabit added.