Which country leads Arab world in business ease?

• Arab nations have implemented several reforms to improve the ease of doing business. TRENDS takes an in-depth look to determine the most business-friendly country in the region
• Business reforms have led to a significant increase in foreign direct investments, contributing to the growth of both the public and private sectors in the Arab countries

UAE replaces Bahrain as most happiest Arab country

UAE GDP growth likely to drop 0.9% in 2023

• The International Monetary Fund projects that global growth will fall to 2.9 percent in 2023 but rise to 3.1 percent in 2024.
• Global inflation is expected to fall to 6.6 percent in 2023 and 4.3 percent in 2024, still above pre-pandemic levels, the Jan 2023 forecast said.

UAE, Qatar least corrupt Arab nations

• The CPI ranks180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
• With a score of 90 and 87 respectively, Denmark and Finland top the CPI, while Somalia and Syria hit rock bottom with a score of 13 and 12 respectively.

Fewer GCC women achieve leadership roles

• A PwC survey last year found that a large group of younger women are more likely to go to work and remain in employment to fulfil their ambitions in MENA region.
• Saudi Arabia has witnessed a 35.6 percent increase in the women's economic participation. Still, the gender gap in leadership roles is huge.

Slower GCC growth expected in 2023

• Maroun Kairouz, Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the World Economic Forum says GCC countries would be the least affected by the recession.
• Easing of pandemic restrictions, and positive developments in the hydrocarbon market drove strong recoveries in 2021 and 2022 across the GCC, World Bank says.

Qatar, UAE lead Gulf region in governance, growth

• TRENDS tries to look at where Arab countries stand in terms of politics, governance and economies, in the latest the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index
• In past 10 years, the quality of democracy has declined in nearly one in five democracies, including in regionally important and once-stable democracies, the index points out

Egypt ranks globally fifth in remittances

• Remittances to low- and middle-income countries withstood global headwinds in 2022, growing an estimated 5 percent to $626 billion.
• The growth was, however, lower than the 10.2 percent increase in 2021, World Bank Migration and Development Brief said in a report in Nov 2022.

Jordan lowest bribery risk Arab nation

• The TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix measures a country's score on the basis of four domains, which are derived from nine sub domains.
• The matrix measures the risk in 194 jurisdictions, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.

Lebanon population set to decline in 2023

• The combined population of the 22 Arab countries in 2021 was around 407-420 million.
• Most of this population is concentrated in and around major urban areas.