IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2023

30 th ), and flexibility and adaptability to face new challenges (31 st from 29 th ). In 10 th position, the UAE returns to the top of the ranking where it last was in 2021, when ninth. Its achievement is driven by its economic performance (fourth) and government efficiency (eighth). In addition, the UAE ranks well in the business effi ciency factor (16 th ) and to a lesser extent in the infrastructure factor (26 th ). In the domestic economy sub-factor, the UAE moves up to fourth, and in the employ ment sub-factor up to sixth, reaching first position in the international trade sub-factor. Among the government effi ciency sub-factors, the UAE remains strong in tax policy (fourth) and busi ness legislation (ninth) but plummets to 31 st in public finance. In infrastruc ture’s sub-factors, the country remains Global competitiveness trends 2023 The macroeconomic and geopolitical trends behind what we call a “polycrisis” are already reshaping the competitiveness landscape in 2023 on multiple levels. Both macroeconomic and business confidence indicators included in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook reflect the impact of these issues on the competi tiveness of economies. Regions and economies with a stable indigenous production of energy, solid supply chains, and trade balances have been able to cope with and, to a certain extent, benefit from these macroeconomic shifts. These economies have managed to increase their competitiveness despite challenging conditions, while those heavily relying on raw materials and energy imports have seen their competitiveness levels deteriorate. While we see asymmetries in how these trends have affected economies across the globe and how leaders are responding to these shifts, confidence levels of the business community at the global level

relatively low in scientific infrastructure (35 th ), health and environment (36 th ), and education (25 th ). The UAE improves its position in several indicators including overall productivity – real growth PPP (eighth), real GDP growth (fifth), and the spread of entrepreneurship (10 th ). Other important increases are in the growth of exports of commercial services (20 th ), real GDP growth per capita (20 th ), envi ronmental agreements (ninth), and total public expenditure on education (48 th ). The UAE experiences declines in indicators such as regulatory compliance – banking laws (51 st from 42 nd ), access to financial services (44 th from 32 nd ), the effectiveness of public-private partnerships (11 th from 10 th ), talent attraction and retention (43 rd from 30 th ), and in the relocation threats of business (34 th from 20 th ). seem to be uniformly gloomy. The IMD Executive Opinion Survey asks mid- and top-level executives about the competi tiveness conditions in the economies in which they reside as well as a few addi tional questions related to executives’ concerns about the economies in which they operate. In 2023, over 6,000 exec utives responded to the survey with an average of 100 from each of the economies included in the study. Figure 1 shows executives’ views from all the 64 countries included in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook on major business trends for 2023. Corpo rate leaders could choose up to three trends from the 10 options provided. The three greatest trends considered to be impacting businesses in 2023 were: the risk of a global economic recession or a slowdown in economic activities (65%), inflationary pressures (57.5%), and geopo litical conflicts (41%). The breakdown of these results by different regions reveals just how rife these concerns are among executives. Fears of a global recession,

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