Way behind in ICT

WEF reports poor readiness

Lebanon came in 95th place among 142 countries around the world on the 2012 Networked Readiness Index, according to the Global Information Technology report.

The report, published by the World Economic Forum in April, gave Lebanon a score of 3.5 points (on a scale of 1 to 7); lower than the global average of 3.96 points, and the Arab average of 3.82 points.

Lebanon came in 11th place among 16 MENA countries. Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE were the top three MENA countries on the index, ranking in the 27th, 28th, and 30th worldwide place respectively.

The report indicated that Lebanon still suffers from serious weaknesses in terms of ICT development. This, it said, hinders the country’s capacity to take full advantage of the benefits accruing from the deployment and use of these and other technologies.

The index measures the four factors driving networked readiness: The environment, the readiness, the usage, and the impact.

Lebanon ranked in the 92nd place on the environment sub-index, which measures the responsiveness of the country’s regulatory environment, and the business and innovation environment to ICT developments. Lebanon came ahead of Syria, Yemen, and Algeria, and behind Egypt, Kuwait, and Jordan.

On the readiness sub-index, Lebanon ranked in 89th place worldwide. This category measures a country’s readiness to use ICT in terms of infrastructure and digital content, affordability, and skills. Lebanon ranked ahead of Morocco, Syria, and Yemen, and behind Algeria, Egypt, and Oman.

Lebanon ranked in the 105th place on the usage sub-index, which measures the actual use of ICT by individuals, businesses, and governments. Lebanon came ahead of Syria and Algeria, but behind Egypt and Morocco.

Lebanon ranked in the 104th place on the impact sub-index, which measures the economic and social impacts of the ICT. Lebanon outdid Syria, Yemen, Algeria, and Morocco on this sub-index but came behind all other MENA countries.

Reported by Hanadi Chami