UAE highly resilient to Covid-19 pandemic impact, World Economic Forum says

Dubai - Strong financial system, integration of health, fiscal and social policies helped the country mitigate the effects of pandemic

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By Waheed Abbas

Published: Wed 16 Dec 2020, 12:51 PM

Last updated: Wed 16 Dec 2020, 1:02 PM

The UAE is one of the leading countries that are relatively more resilient to the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to strong policy stability, high ICT (Information and Communication Technology) adoption and a financial system that supports SMEs, according to the Global Competitiveness Report released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The UAE’s strong financial system and its ability to successfully plan and integrate health, fiscal and social policies helped the country to be among the world leaders in mitigating the effects of Covid-19 crisis, the report said.

World Economic Forum has suspended country rankings in its flagship Global Competitiveness Report due to the extraordinary situation after the pandemic and measures which countries are best prepared for recovery and future economic transformation.

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Data from 37 countries was mapped against the 11 priorities outlined in the report and found that while no country is fully prepared for recovery and economic transformation, some are better placed than others.

The UAE is one of the best countries when it comes to ICT adoption and digital legal framework, achieving second and fourth rankings, respectively, in the report.

“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,” World Economic Forum said in its latest report.

The Switzerland-based body said countries like Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria and UAE have the political stability that can be used as a proxy for government capacity to plan and coordinate.

Almost one year after the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, the deep economic recession it has triggered continues to have profound economic and social consequences, it said.

-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

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Waheed Abbas

Published: Wed 16 Dec 2020, 12:51 PM

Last updated: Wed 16 Dec 2020, 1:02 PM

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