Egypt moves up three places in WEF global competitiveness report

Egypt ranked 116, up from 119 last year, in the World Economic Forum's annual Global Competitiveness Report, the first improvement since the 2011 uprisings swept across the Arab World.

The 2015-2016 Report assesses the competitiveness of 140 countries, based on their overall scores on 113 indicators. Last year's report, in which Egypt ranked 119, compared 144 countries.

On the Global Competitiveness Index, which makes assessments on a scale from one to seven, Egypt has averaged an overall 3.66, only a few points higher than the 3.60 registered in the 2014-2015 report.

The 400-page report shows a rise in the level of public trust in politicians, compared to last year and cites "a more efficient judiciary in settling business disputes".

It also suggests that Egypt has improved on all three indicators related to the judiciary, judicial independence, the efficiency in settling legal disputes and the efficiency in challenging regulations.

Although Egypt continues to face an escalating militant insurgency, the report suggests that the country has improved on all four security-related indicators.