RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has achieved advanced positions in a number of global competitiveness indicators related to the financial market, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) said, citing the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020. The authority attributed the remarkable progress made at the global level to its efforts to develop the financial market sector and apply the best international practices. Commenting on the achievement, CMA’s Undersecretary for Strategic and International Affairs Yazid Bin Saleh Al-Dumaiji, noted that Saudi Arabia ranked 24 for the year 2020 compared to 26 in 2019, in the global competitiveness of the International Institute for Administrative Development (IMD), among the most competitive 63 countries in the world.He added that the Kingdom advanced in six indicators, the most prominent of which is the stock market capitalization index (as a percentage of GDP), as it jumped from 26 in 2019 to second place in 2020. Moreover, he said, the Kingdom jumped from 33rd to 20th place in the easy access to financial markets index, and from 36 to 4th place in the IPO Index. Al-Dumaiji pointed out that the CMA has secured a number of international achievements during the year 2020. The authority also participated in the development of a special index related to investor protection in the Islamic capital markets, which was recently issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board, which specifies the minimum requirements that must be applied in those markets. Al-Dumaiji noted that the authority has received 150 applications to the Financial Technology Laboratory, which CMA launched in 2018 stemming from its continued support for the financial technology projects in the financial market in the Kingdom, an initiative of the Financial Leadership Program.