Tribune News Network
Doha
The 2017 KPMG Change Readiness Index (CRI), has ranked Qatar at 19 out of 136 countries for its capacity to respond and adapt to significant changes, resulting from short-term events, such as natural disasters, and longer-term demographic, economic, social and technological trends.
The CRI provides deep insights into where countries can focus and invest in order to be prepared for the increasing pace of change worldwide ” breaking down each country's capacity across three key"pillars" of capability: enterprise, government, and people and civil society, the KPMG said in a press release on Monday.
On the results, KPMG in Qatar's Country Senior Partner Abu-Sharkh said,"It is not surprising to see Qatar towards the top of the CRI rankings, alongside many more developed countries, given the country's commitment to development in many areas.
"Qatar's National Vision (QNV) 2030 is likely to be a major contributor to the ranking, as it aims to transform Qatar into an advanced country by 2030, capable of sustaining its own development and providing for a high standard of living for all of its people for generations to come."
He said focusing on GDP or business output alone is not the answer to a country becoming more change-ready.
The CRI shows that improving capabilities in areas of government, people and civil society, as well as in enterprise, or business environment, are often the reason why some countries are able to climb up the rankings. No single factor underlies change readiness, he noted.
"QNV 2030 clearly defines the government's focus on all major areas which impact a country's development; human, social, environment and economic."
Meanwhile, Qatar is one of only four Asian countries to feature in the top 20 in the CRI, which is largely dominated by European countries.
Switzerland took the number-one ranking for the first time, replacing Singapore, which had claimed the top ranking in the 2013 and 2015 CRIs.
The UK entered the top 10 for the first time, strengthening its change-readiness at an especially critical time as the country prepares for Brexit. The US also significantly improved its ranking since the previous CRI, rising eight places to 12th from 20th in 2015.