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UAE enters the top 10 of IMD's Government Support Index

1 min read

Modern government office buildings in Abu Dhabi with landscaped gardens and palm trees Policy and Regulation
Modern government office buildings in Abu Dhabi with landscaped gardens and palm trees

The country rose from 16th to 10th in the 2026 index, which measures government support as a share of GDP, meeting a target the Ministry of Finance set last year.

The UAE has risen to 10th place worldwide in the 2026 Government Support Index, one of the indicators in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, the Ministry of Finance said on 22 October. It ranked 16th in 2025 and 43rd in 2024.

The index measures government support as a percentage of GDP, and a lower value ranks higher. The UAE's figure fell to 0.43% in 2026 from 0.55% in 2025, which the ministry said reflects more efficient public spending rather than less support.

In the same yearbook, the UAE held second place in the Public Finance Index, third in the Budget Surplus/Deficit indicator and seventh in General Government Expenditure, and kept fourth place in Government Efficiency.

Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, credited cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and local finance departments under a single Government Finance Statistics framework. The ministry said the next aim is to stay in the top 10 by improving the quality, completeness and timeliness of fiscal data.

Rankings of this kind are based on IMD's own methodology. For investors, the related public-finance scores, such as the budget balance, say more about the government's room to fund infrastructure and support the economy.

Sources