UAE slides to third in emerging markets index

The UAE has slid one place to third in Kuwait logistics company Agility’s Emerging Markets Index.

In the 2017 report, which ranks countries by size, business conditions, and transport infrastructure and connections, the UAE was overtaken by India but maintained its position as the top performing Middle East country.

Among the Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar remained unchanged at fifth and 12th respectively and Oman climbed one place to 13th.

Bahrain showed the most noticeable improvement in performance, climbing five places to 23rd, while Kuwait fell three places to 26th.

All of the Gulf countries performed favourably in the business conditions category with the UAE taking the top place, Qatar second, Oman third, Bahrain fourth, Saudi Arabia seventh and Kuwait 10th.

“The UAE has taken a strategic view of its development outside the energy sector and continues to improve its attractiveness to logistics providers and their customers,” said Elias Monem, Middle East and Africa CEO of Agility Global Integrated Logistics. “The low energy prices of recent years have prompted other Gulf states to do the same.”

The wider index was led by China in first place, with Malaysia taking fourth.

Iran was one of the performers after climbing eight places to 18 and was ranked ninth from a previous score of 15 in a survey of 800 business executives.