The World Bank's annual World Governance Indicators for 2017 show that the average score of 20 Arab countries regressed on three out of six governance indicators included in the survey, improved on two indicators, and was nearly unchanged on the remaining indicator. The indicators cover 214 countries and territories worldwide that are rated on a scale of -2.5 to +2.5, with higher values corresponding to better governance outcomes. Arab countries posted an average score of -0.48 points on the Government Effectiveness indicator, up from -0.49 points in 2016. The indicator evaluates the quality of public services and the degree of their independence from political pressure, as well as the quality of policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of the government's commitment to such policies. The region's government effectiveness was higher than that of the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region (-0.84 points) only. The UAE had the most effective government among Arab countries with a score of +1.4 points, while Yemen (-1.92 points) came last. In parallel, Arab countries received a score of -0.46 points on the Control of Corruption indicator, nearly unchanged from 2016. The region's average score was better than the scores of South Asia (-0.47 points) and SSA (-0.68 points) only. The UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia were the least corrupt Arab countries, while Yemen, Libya and Syria were the most corrupt countries in the region.    
Source: World Bank, Byblos Research