The World Economic Forum (WEF) said that the high adoption of information and communication technology (ICT), a strong financial system that can boost SMEs, and effective policy stability makes the UAE one of the fastest recovering countries from the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The WEF’s ‘The Global Competitiveness Report Special Edition 2020: How Countries are Performing on the Road to Recovery’ founds that the UAE is one of the nations that are comparatively more resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic effect.
The report said that the strong financial system of the UAE and its ability to prepare and integrate health, fiscal and social policies effectively enabled the country to be among the world leaders in mitigating the impact of the crisis of COVID-19.
This year’s report is a special edition, as the forum suspended its rankings on the Global Competitiveness Index, due to unprecedented actions taken by authorities in reaction to the global pandemic and economic recession. The WEF said it will see a return to benchmarking in the 2021 edition, which promises an updated structure for future economic development.
The data from 37 countries were mapped according to the 11 priorities mentioned in the report, and it founds that while no country is fully ready for recovery and economic transformation, some are in a better place than others.
WEF said, “Economies with strong financial systems such as Taiwan, Finland, US, UAE, and Singapore could more easily find resources to provide credit to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which, in addition to public interventions, contributed to keeping companies afloat in the current context.”
The Swiss-based body stated countries such as Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, and the UAE have political stability that can be used as a proxy of government capacity to plan and coordinate.
Also, the organization added that the deep economic recession continues even one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.
