World Bank: The Middle East and North Africa is the Second Most Reforming Region
According to “Doing Business 2010: Reforming through Difficult Times” Reformers were particularly active in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.
This year, there were 4 new reformers among the top 10: Liberia, the United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan and Moldova. Others include Rwanda, Egypt, Belarus, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Colombia. Colombia and Egypt have been top global reformers in four of the past seven years.
In 2008/09 Doing Business reforms picked up around the world, with at least 60% of economies reforming in every region. Reformers were particularly active in 2 regions, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. In both, competition among neighbors played a part in motivating reforms.
Governments in the MENA Region are now reforming at a rate similar to those in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Seventeen of 19 economies reformed in 2008/09.
Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates were among the most active reformers.
In recent years economies in the region have increasingly picked up reform practices from one another. Eight of the region’s economies have reduced or eliminated their minimum capital requirement since 2005.
Five of these 8 used to have among the highest requirements in the world— up to $120,000 in Saudi Arabia until 2007.
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Yemen all operate one-stop shops for starting a business.
In 2008/09 reforms also intensified in other areas, simplifying processes for getting construction permits, for trading across borders and for enforcing contracts through the courts.
Rami Alshami
Global Arab Network