AMMAN — Jordan climbed 11 spots in the 2018 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, landing in the 45th place globally, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Tuesday.

In the report, published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), a Swiss-based institute that releases competitiveness rankings annually, countries’ economies are ordered from the most to the least competitive, according to the IMD website.

Scores are based on a country’s economic achievements, infrastructure, and government and corporate efficiency.

In a press release, IMD commended the remarkable advance Jordan has achieved, attributing it to the transformation path in the field of digitisation, in addition to launching the government’s “digital Jordan” initiative.

Director of IMD World Competitiveness Centre Arturo Bris said that “the outstanding progress of Jordan’s performance achieved over the past year included improvements in various basic and secondary indicators”.

According to Bris, the Knowledge index increased five points, technology rose from 48 to 50 and the index of future readiness climbed seven points.

On the global level, the US has climbed to the top spot after taking third place last year, followed by Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland.

At the regional level, the 2018 report shows a gap in implementing digitisation, and despite the clear advance of the UAE and its improved performance, ranking 17, the gap between the UAE and the rest of the Arab countries is very wide, according to the report.

Qatar follows in the 28th place, and with an even wider gap, Saudi Arabia takes the 42nd spot, followed by Jordan in 45th, according to Petra.