Dubai economy highly competitive
The economy of Dubai is one of the most competitive with an overall competitiveness ranking of 17 against 61 economies worldwide, according to a report.

The ‘Dubai in World Competitiveness Report 2005’, published jointly by the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) and the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD), rates Dubai’s competitiveness with regard to four main factors including economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
IMD is a leading independent organisation responsible for producing the annual World Competitiveness Yearbook and has analysed Dubai’s competitiveness against 51 national and nine regional economies.
“Dubai’s high competitiveness ranking, endorsed by an international institution against some of the major global economies, clearly reinforces the message that the Government of Dubai is focusing on implementing business friendly initiatives to offer value-added services to investors,” said Ali Ibrahim, deputy director general for executive affairs, DED.
“This report will go a long way towards highlighting the positive trends in Dubai’s economic environment and ensure that Dubai becomes the destination of choice for international investors and multinational corporations,” he added.
Dubai’s business efficiency has been ranked at 21 based on a number of internal issues for private sector businesses operating in Dubai. These include a lack of ready availability of skilled labour, finance and international best practices in auditing and accounting.
Ranking for Dubai’s basic infrastructure is relatively strong at 16, although the emirate’s overall ranking for infrastructure spanning various forms of infrastructure has been classified at 32. The IMD’s definition of infrastructure extends beyond basic infrastructure to educational, technological, health and environmental and scientific infrastructure.
The report provides an unparalleled collection of economic and other data pertaining to Dubai with a total of 314 indicators being included.
The report ranks Dubai as one of the top 10 competitive economies in several sub-factor ranking.
These include the fifth place in the criteria of ease of doing business, employment (second place), fiscal policy (first place), public finance (ninth place), labour market (eighth place) and adaptability of government policy to change in the economy (third place). In the management of public finances, Dubai has been ranked in fourth place and is expected to improve over the next two years. Dubai has also been ranked in fourth place for government decisions thereby indicating that the decisions are effectively implemented.
Key recommendations include creating more value-added activities, developing a layer of competitive small and medium-size enterprises with good competencies and technology, developing a first class infrastructure that will also be cost effective and the creation of an advanced technological infrastructure.
The advancement of an education and science culture that will constitute the foundation of a knowledge society in Dubai is one of the most important recommendations in the report.
In addition, it also emphasises the promotion of the Emiratisation policy to encourage the development of more young national professionals and enable them to take part in the management of the economy, especially the private sector.
The DED commenced the study in June 2005 with an executive opinion survey for 200 CEOs of private sector organisations based in Dubai.
The IMD studied and analysed Dubai’s economy, based on more than 300 criteria grouped into the four competitiveness factors. The data for the analysis was collected from international and regional organisations and private institutes while the qualitative survey data was drawn from the executive opinion survey.

Qatar GDP grows 33pc
The economy of Qatar grew by 33.3 per cent last year in nominal terms compared with the previous year, an official said.
The country’s gross domestic product reached QR153.3 billion ($44 billion) in 2005 compared with QR115 billion in the previous year, the head of the Qatari planning council Sheikh Hamad bin Jabr Al Thani said. He said the energy sector accounted for nearly 60 per cent of GDP last year compared with 55 per cent in 2004. Qatar aims to double its GDP in the next five years.

Oman to cut debt
Oman will take advantage of high oil prices to reduce its debt by up to 30 per cent this year, the country’s economy minister said.
Ahmad bin Abdul-Nabi Mekki said Oman, an independent oil producer, was using the revenue to reduce its debt, which he said amounted to RO1 billion ($2.6 billion).
“We will be paying down our debt and won’t be issuing any more bonds,” he said. Oman has issued bonds regularly to help finance development projects.
Oman’s internal debt stood at RO600 million and its external debt was RO400 million. Asked by how much he hoped to reduce the debt this year, he said:  “We might reduce it to below 700 or 800 million (rials).”
The 2006 state budget carries a gap of RO650 million but it assumes a conservative oil price of $32 per barrel, about half of the actual price.

Emirates tops in FDI
The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the UAE hit a record $10 billion last year, amounting to 34 per cent of the $29.6 billion that came into the Middle East in 2005, according to figures released by the Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC), an affiliate of the Arab League.
Egypt ranked second, attracting around $4.1 billion while Saudi Arabia came third, with nearly $3.5 billion.
The 2005 Arab FDI accounted for a record 3.3 per cent of the total foreign investment channelled worldwide, the report said.
The 2005 figure was much higher than the 2004 Arab FDI of around $19.8 billion, which accounted for nearly 2.7 per cent of the world’s total foreign capital. That year too the UAE was the largest recipient of foreign investment in the Arab world, attracting $8.4 billion.