I was going through the 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness report and comparing Lebanon’s ratings with the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 reports. Surprisingly enough, Lebanese politicians are no longer the least trustworthy in the world after staying on top for three years in a row. In fact they managed somehow to improve by 13 spots, which means that there’s either a glitch in the report or there are far worse politicians than the ones we have here.
Jokes aside, here are few key indicators where Lebanon is still badly ranked (Out of 140):
Intellectual property protection: 139/140.
Diversion of public funds: 137/140
Public trust in politicians: 127/140
Irregular payments and bribes: 127/140
Wastefulness of government spending: 139/140
Transparency of government policy making: 130/140
Reliability of police services: 130/140
Quality of overall infrastructure: 138/140
Quality of electricity supply: 137/140
General government debt, % GDP: 137/140
Women in labor force, ratio to men: 134/140
Gov’t procurement of advanced tech products: 132/140
On the other hand, here are some positive indicators:
HIV prevalence, % adult pop: 1/140
Individuals using Internet, %: 33/140
Infant mortality, deaths/1,000 live births: 49/140
Quality of primary education: 19/140
Quality of math and science education: 6/140
Quality of the education system: 28/140
Soundness of banks: 23/140
Availability of scientists and engineers: 27/140
I expect the ratings to get much worse in next year’s report especially after the garbage crisis, the presidency void, the demonstrations and the chaotic situation.
