The UAE is the second Best Arab Economy in 2011: Forbes - Middle East
The UAE has been ranked the second best Arab economy, according to "Forbes - Middle East" study 2011. According to the study, the high oil prices, witnessed during the past year, have contributed to the achievement of profitable revenue growth in the economies of the Arab oil-exporting countries, 7 of which topped the list of "2011 Top Performing Economies in the Arab Region." Saudi Arabia topped the list, followed by the UAE in the second place, Qatar in third place and Oman in fourth place. The results of the study showed that those countries have taken advantage of the surplus revenues to increase spending on investments in domestic infrastructure and other vital sectors, such as health and education, in addition to raising their people’s standards of living, as most of those countries have approved significant increases in employee wages. For these same reasons, Kuwait occupied fifth place on the list, to be followed by Iraq and Algeria.
Morocco deserved to win, with distinction, the first place amongst Arab nonoil exporting countries. It occupied eighth place on the list as it achieved GDP growth rate of nearly 4.6 percent. Trying hard to get out of the cycle of the world’s poorest countries, Mauritania comes in ninth place on the list, achieving a growth rate of 5.1 percent. Jordan occupies tenth place, with its economic institutions working hard to implement a financial policy that can rescue the country, get it out of its debts that exceed $19 billion, and improve its growth rate that reaches 22.5 percent. Given that the Arab Spring hasn’t reached these countries, the internal stable security has proved beneficial.
On the other hand, Syria, Tunis, Egypt and Bahrain, have largely been affected by the popular revolts and the high oil prices as they are oil importers. Those two factors stand behind the decline in most of their economic indicators, such as foreign currency reserves and foreign investments. Meanwhile; those countries occupied places from 11th to 14th, respectively.
Lebanon occupied 15th place as it was affected by the events on its borders with Syria, granting the "Cedar Country" the title of "Master of Debts", as Lebanon’s public debt rate reached 126 percent of its Domestic Product.
The study is part of Forbes Middle East’s interest in assisting governmental financial and economic planning sectors to develop and build future economic policies, based on accurate and objective data and analysis. The magazine also aims to provide the Arab readers all over the Arab world with a comprehensive panorama about the most important financial and economic events and facts, the region has witnessed in 2011.
The study, that was conducted in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund in the US, included 19 Arab countries.
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