New Global Economic Identity Index launched to assess national economic transformation
20/09/2026 | 18:18:12
Amman, Sept. 20 (Petra) - Strategic consultant Adli Kandah announced on Sunday the launch of the Global Economic Identity Index, a research tool designed to analyze national economies through their structural and productive characteristics rather than relying on traditional performance metrics.
Kandah told Jordan News Agency (Petra) that while indicators such as GDP, inflation, unemployment, national debt, and foreign direct investment are essential, they fail to reveal an economy's core capacity for structural transformation. The index addresses this gap by examining economic components, inter-sectoral links, diversification, complexity, and overall productivity.
The model frames an economy's structural baseline as its "economic DNA," a composite of interconnected productive traits that dictate its ability to generate value, diversify output, and transition across developmental stages, according to Kandah.
The index evaluates national economies on a 100-point composite scale built across five core dimensions: - Sectoral structure and baseline composition - Productive linkages between domestic industries - Economic diversification across output channels - Economic complexity and technological depth - Total factor productivity across labor and capital During its pilot phase, the framework analyzed six Arab economies: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia, tracking structural shifts over the 2010–2025 period to test the model across varied economic landscapes.
Kandah noted that the tool's primary value lies in identifying structural bottlenecks and long-term advantages rather than producing a static ranking. It offers policymakers a diagnostic tool to verify whether reform initiatives are driving genuine structural change or merely producing temporary performance spikes.
The index is designed to complement, rather than replace, established international benchmarks.
To safeguard intellectual property, the research was registered with the National Library of Jordan and issued an official ISBN.
Future phases will expand the underlying database and include a broader array of regional and global economies, Kandah said.
//Petra// HA