The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Lebanon in 80th place among 140 countries globally and in ninth place among 14 Arab countries on its Global Competitiveness Index for 2018. Lebanon also ranked in 23rd place among 34 upper middle-income countries (UMICs) included in the survey. Lebanon's global rank regressed by five spots from the previous survey, which constituted, along with Botswana, Guatemala, Haiti, South Africa and Tajikistan, the seventh steepest decline globally. Lebanon's rank among Arab countries declined by one spot year-on-year.

The index measures the ability of a country and its enterprises to compete in global markets by assessing the country's institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, education and healthcare systems, and entrepreneurial culture. It scores countries on a scale from zero to 100, with 100 representing the highest level of competitiveness.

Lebanon received a score of 57.7 points, lower than the global average of 60 points, the UMICs' average of 59.6 points and the Arab average of 58.4 points. Further, Lebanon's score came lower than Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries' average of 67 points, but higher than the average of non-GCC Arab countries of 52 points. 

The WEF indicated that Lebanon has competitive advantages in the digital skills of the labor force, the ease of finding skilled employees, and in domestic credit to the private sector. In contrast, it noted that Lebanon ranks poorly in terms of reliable water supply, active labor policies, the insolvency regulatory framework for businesses, the quality of roads, and the future orientation of the government, among others. However, the WEF's updated measure for electricity infrastructure, which it assessed through the electrification rate and transmission and distribution losses, distorted the evaluation of Lebanon's global competitiveness. In fact, the WEF ranked Lebanon in first place globally on the electrification rate, but it did not take into consideration other factors that render the state of the electricity sector a burden on the competitiveness of the Lebanese economy.