*** ----> Manama ranked 6th in Arab financial centres | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Manama ranked 6th in Arab financial centres

Manama : Manama has been ranked 6th in the Arab world and 59th in the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI Index). GFCI ranks the competitiveness of financial centres globally based on external assessments from third parties, including the World Bank, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) of the British Economist Group and the United Nations. The ranking is based on five key factors: business environment, financial sector development, infrastructure, human capital, public factors etc.

Dubai has been ranked first in the Arab world and the 15th in the global index of the global financial centres, which included 110 centres around the world. The list of Arab cities in the index included Abu Dhabi, which ranked 2nd in the Arab world, 26th in the world, Casablanca which ranked 28th in the world, whilst Manama ranked 6th in the Arab world, 59th in the world, then Riyadh ranked 7th in the Arab world and 69th globally. As per the index, Dubai’s advanced position was followed by its superiority in infrastructure and its position of 7th in the world, as well as its advanced 9th position in the world at the level of human capital and development. 

Ranked 11th globally in terms of the business environment, and ranked 14th globally in terms of reputation. New York City ranked first in the global financial centre index, two points ahead of London, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The city of Tokyo was ranked sixth, followed by Sydney in seventh place, then Beijing in eighth place, while Zurich came in ninth and Frankfurt ranked tenth.

On the most important competitive factors to be considered in financial centres, is respondents focus on the impact of precast on the business environment and the high level of concern about the uncertainty of many centres. They also emphasized that protectionism and trade wars would be negative factors. At the level of the centres’ reputation, participants pointed out the importance of countries’ promotion of their positions while expressing their concerns about the dangers of war and the continuation of terrorism.