The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its “B2C E-Commerce Index 2020” report in which it assesses the readiness of countries to delve in online commerce. The index comprises four indicators, namely internet use penetration, secure servers per 1 million inhabitants, account penetration and a postal reliability score. Upper-income economies dominated the top 10 positions in the 2020 E-commerce index of which eight countries from Europe, in addition to Singapore and Hong Kong. Switzerland topped the list with an index value of 95.9, followed by the Netherlands <95.8, global rank: 2>, Denmark <94.5, global rank: 3> and Singapore <94.4, global rank: 4>.

On a regional basis, the United Arab Emirates topped the list of the 2020 B2C E-commerce index among the 16 Arab countries covered by the report with an index score of 78.2 and a global rank of 37 in 2020 down from 28 in 2019, followed by Saudi Arabia <72.3, global rank: 49>, Qatar <72.1, global rank: 50> and Oman <70.6, global rank: 54>. The UNCTAD unveiled that Algeria was one of the best 4 improvers in the index globally, with its ranking rallying to 80^th in the year 2020 up from 109^th in the previous year.

On a local basis, Lebanon came in 6^th among the 16 Arab countries covered by the report, scoring 60.4 in the B2C E-commerce index and ranking 64^th in the world, improving by 5 positions from its 2019 rank. It is worth noting, however, that Lebanon registered the second highest score in the region in the UPU postal reliability indicator (74) with an internet use penetration score of 78%, a share of individuals with an account at a financial institution of 45% and some 44 secure servers per 1 million people.