DUBAI, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) fell by one place in the latest global ranking of competitiveness, a report said Wednesday.
The Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday in an e-mailed statement that the UAE fell in its global ranking report 2017/2018 to position 17 (out of 137 countries) from position 16 (out of 138 countries) in the previous year.
The WEF said while the UAE continues to lead the Arab World in terms of competitiveness, it loses one place as other countries post even larger gains.
Although the International Monetary Fund predicted UAE's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to drop to 1.3 percent this year, its non-oil growth is expected to pick up, suggesting that the country's diversification strategy is bearing fruit, the report said.
In order to further increase its competitiveness, the UAE will have to speed up progress in terms of spreading the latest digital technologies (36th) and upgrading education (36th), it added.
Switzerland tops the global ranking of competitiveness in the latest WEF report, followed by the United States and Singapore.
In order to advance in the global competitiveness ranking, the UAE must improve access to financing for companies, improve the general education level and ease labor regulations, among other factors, the WEF said.
It criticized the "poor work ethic in national labor force" in the UAE, while lauding the government's stability in the Gulf state which aims to reduce the share of oil in the GDP from 29 percent to 19 percent by 2024.
