In the Economic Complexity Index (ECI), Kuwait ranked 86th globally in terms of complexity of economy. However, the index showed that the country’s economy has become less complex than it was a decade ago, reports Al-Rai daily. Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked 42, Bahrain ranked 56, Qatar ranked 71, Oman ranked 79, and the UAE ranked 99.

The Economic Complexity Index measures the extent of the country’s productive knowledge and the volume of information on its production capabilities. It also takes into account the volume of the country’s exports and compares it with the development and diversity of other exporting countries.

The index shows that the complexity of the Kuwaiti economy comes despite the increasing diversification of the country’s exports, which has affected less complex products. It believes that Kuwait has few opportunities to diversify its production using the expertise it currently possesses. The index revealed that Kuwait is less complex than what would be expected for a country with its income level, and as a result, its economy is expected to grow slowly.

According to the Growth Lab’s forecasts for 2030, Kuwait’s growth will be around 0.7 percent annually over the next decade, placing it in the lower half of the world’s countries in terms of growth. The “Atlas of Economic Complexity” issued by Harvard Kennedy School describes Kuwait as a high-income country and ranks it as the 27th richest economy by population out of the 133 countries covered by the Atlas.

According to the Atlas, the GDP per capita of Kuwait’s population of 4.27 million is about 24,811 dollars. The average growth of per capita output has reached 3.9 percent during the past five years, which is lower than the average in the countries of the region. Kuwait ranked third richest country in the Gulf after Qatar, which ranked tenth in the world, and the UAE, which ranked 21. Bahrain ranked 31, Saudi Arabia 33, and Oman 41.