The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has achieved the rank (17) globally out of (64) countries that are the most competitive in the world, becoming one of the top(20) countries for the first time in the report of the annual book of global competitiveness, issued by the Global Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for administrative development (IMD), which is one of the main competitiveness reports followed and analyzed by the National Competitiveness Center in coordination with the relevant government agencies.

The kingdom advanced (7) ranks in the 2023 edition, supported by strong economic and financial performance in 2022, and improved business legislation, making it ranked (3) among the group of twenty countries for the first time, surpassing countries with advanced economies in the world such as: South Korea, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, India, the United Kingdom, China, Mexico, Brazil, and Turkey, according to the report methodology that covers various aspects of competitiveness.

The International Institute for administrative development (IMD) praised the kingdom's ability to adapt its policies according to economic variables.

The kingdom's ranking improved in three of the four main axes measured by the report, namely: the economic performance axis, in which the kingdom advanced from 31st to 6th place, the government efficiency axis, in which it advanced from 19th to 11th place, and the business efficiency axis, in which it advanced from 16th to 13th place, while maintaining its previous rank (34th) in the infrastructure axis.

The economic reforms implemented in the kingdom contributed to reaching the first three ranks in 23 indicators, including the first place globally in the indicators, the most prominent of which are: efficiency of Public Finance, understanding the need for economic and social reforms, financing technical development, supporting public-private partnerships for technical development, and the second place globally in the indicators: real GDP growth rate, long-term employment growth, government's ability to adapt to economic variables, social cohesion, unemployment legislation, cyber security, supporting the legal environment for the development and application of technology, and the Kingdom came third globally in the indicators of: The resilience of the economy, consumer price inflation rates, digital transformation in enterprises, market capitalization of the stock market, the availability of venture capital.

The statistical information and data provided by the General Authority for statistics on a regular and permanent basis is one of the tools that help international organizations and institutions to measure the performance of the Saudi economy and build relevant indicators related to it, while the National Competitiveness Center, in integration with government agencies, develops reforms that have an impact on the competitive environment, through monitoring and analyzing the kingdom's performance and working to upgrade its ranking in the relevant international reports.

It is noteworthy that the report of the annual book of global competitiveness, issued by the Global Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for administrative development (IMD) in the Swiss city of Lausanne, is one of the important reports, and a reference for international organizations and institutions, to compare (64) countries that are the most competitive globally on the basis of four main axes, along with (20) sub-axes, and more than (300) sub-indicators.