DOHA: Egypt topped its direct Arab competitors in the least advanced stage of development category of the Arab World Competitiveness report released Monday. The United Arab Emirates led the way in the top tier stage of most advanced countries, followed by Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
According to Margaret Drzeniek Hanouz, the senior economist of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and editor of the Arab World Competitiveness report, Egypt is competing in the factor driven stage, where competition is driven by boasting low prices and cheaper factors of production. The next two levels are the efficiency driven stage and innovative driven stage.
The results were unveiled at the Arab World Competitiveness Roundtable held under the auspices of the WEF and Arab Business Council in Doha, Qatar.
Despite the improved results for some Arab countries, many felt there is still more that needs to be done.
“Even though there is economic growth across the region, time is not in our favor. The report mentions issues that are being addressed, but not hard enough, said Mohammed Shafik Gabr, Chairman of the Arab Business Council and Managing Director of the Artoc Group in Egypt.
Egypt was the best performing Arab country among the countries in the lowest stage of development category, outscoring Morocco, Syria and Mauritania. Egypt ranked 4th among 48 countries in that category and scored highest in macro economy.
A brief from the report said of Egypt that “the well-developed physical infrastructure serves the economy well and good progress has been achieved with respect to primary education.
However the report continued that Egypt suffered from “a soaring budget deficit, rigid labor markets and financial markets that are ill-equipped to channel financial resources into investments. Equally, the potential of latest technologies is not fully used.
The participants believed that the most pressing concern for Egypt specifically, and the Arab countries as a whole, is education, especially in light of an anticipated increase in unemployment across the region.
Co-chairman of the 2007 roundtable and Egypt’s Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garanah was quizzed on that point concerning Egypt.
He said: “We know very well what the problem is. Education is one of the very important issues we are addressing. We have 13 million students in the primary stage.
“Why do we have so many doctors, engineers and teachers but no specialists in certain domains? So we outsource them, he said
Garanah added that “the pace of how people have lived for years can’t be changed overnight. But you must have strategies. If we start now, we will see the results in 15 years. But we must start now.
As for the expected rise in unemployment in the Arab world in the upcoming years, BBC World presenter Nik Gowing said, “Higher growth rate doesn’t necessarily transform to job creation growth.
“We’re going to see an increase in unemployment in the region, said Mazen S. Darwazeh, co-chairman of the roundtable and Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals in Jordan, adding that governments aren’t taking action fast enough.
Darwazeh said: “We have lost the middle class in the Arab world. We don’t have democratic reform in the Arab world, and we are not empowering half our population, referring to the female population.
Gabr added: “We need to create a culture of competitiveness. Certain governments and business environments remain protectionist [in their] policies.
He then recounted an anecdote about a Jordanian businesswoman of Palestinian origin who always had difficulty getting visas to Arab countries until she married an American. With her new passport, Gabr said, she entered any Arab country without delay.
The top Arab country, the UAE, was ranked 29 overall in the world rankings. The number one ranking country in the world for competitiveness is Switzerland followed by the United States.
