Qatar performs well in IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009

This is the first time Qatar has been included in the survey done by IMD. The most competitive country in the IMD exercise remains the Unites States while two Asian highfliers are Hong Kong and Singapore. The survey covers mostly developed countries.

Notable strengths in Qatar's measured competitiveness were economic performance and government efficiency. However, Qatar performed less well in the areas of business efficiency and infrastructure, including total expenditure percentage of GDP on education, health and research and development. The survey results are based both on published indicators and on survey data collected from businesses operating in Qatar.

"Though these new data confirm Qatar's strong fundamentals, they also point to a number of areas that warrant close attention if Qatar is to become a truly internationally competitive business platform. Building a vibrant economy is a key element of our National Vision and this new report will help us better identify priorities and practical means of achieving our goal", said Dr. Ibrahim Ibrahim, the Secretary General of the General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP). GSDP coordinated the study with IMD and the Qatar Statistics Authority.

In the context of the on-going global economic upheaval, IMD also analyzed how well the 57 economies in its survey are equipped to tackle the recession and improve their competitiveness. This so called 'Stress Test' placed Qatar in third place, after Denmark and Singapore.