The Gulf countries have had a mixed bag of results in the 2016-17 Global Competitiveness Index brought out by the World Economic Forum. The UAE and Qatar are noted for their consistently outstanding performances among the 138 economies reviewed.

But this time, all the Gulf economies except the UAE saw their rankings plummet. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait experienced a decline by four notches in their rankings. The index, however, ranks the UAE as the 16th most competitive economy in the world having gained a single notch.

Qatar dropped to 18th, whereas it was ahead of all Arab countries in the 2015-16 report. Even then, the UAE and Qatar are ranked ahead of several EU countries — including France, Austria, and Luxembourg.

Saudi Arabia is now placed at 29th, yet it was enough to be ahead of the Czech Republic, Spain and Poland. Kuwait is at 34th globally, while Bahrain lost nine positions.

Oman had the best improvement among the grouping, advancing six notches to 66th. However, the Sultanate’s ranking is the worst in the Gulf. Nevertheless, whatever progress it has had is a welcome development, as Oman’s position had dropped 16 spots in the 2015-16 report.

Save for Oman, the rest of Gulf countries outperform other Arab states. While Oman lags behind Jordan, the fact of the matter is that Gulf countries are net contributors to Arab economies.

The drop in positions this year is partly a reflection of other countries exerting efforts to make their economies more competitive. Undoubtedly, countries value competitiveness in order to entice investments to help address economic challenges like creating jobs.

The survey relies on a comprehensive set of variables, which provide credence. Specifically, the index ranks economies on the basis of their achievements on three broad categories, namely basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation and sophistication factors.

In turn, the basic requirements category is subdivided into institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and primary education. Still, the efficiency enhancers are made up of opportunities in higher education and training, goods and market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market sophistication, technological readiness and market size. The innovation and sophistication factors relate to business sophistication and innovation.

For the UAE, the aviation industry is a contributor to competitiveness, with the country’s four airlines operating elaborate networks. Also, the preparation works to host the Expo 2020 in Dubai is a plus due to the investments set to have a positive spillover effects for the whole economy.

Qatar is staying ahead partly due to investments on infrastructure projects relating to the World Cup 2022. By one account, Qatar plans to invest some $200 billion on projects, including a metro system.

On the contrary, issues related to placing restrictions on employment of expatriates had a role in the lower rankings for several GCC states.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain.