Ease of doing business: UAE tops Mena region

Country also improved global ranking with speedy reforms, World Bank report says

The UAE, with a global ranking of 26, improved 5 positions from 31 last year, ranked top in the region followed by Bahrain (63) and Oman (66).

The UAE ranked top in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region in the World Bank’s ease of doing business report Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All released late yesterday.

The UAE, with a global ranking of 26, improved 5 positions from 31 last year, ranked top in the region followed by Bahrain (63) and Oman (66).

Based on reforms undertaken, the UAE and Bahrain are also among the global top 10 improvers, the World Bank said in a statement.

The report observed that pace of business reforms accelerated considerably in the past year, despite conflict and turmoil in the Mena region.

The report finds that 15 of the region’s 20 economies implemented 35 reforms to facilitate the ease of doing business.

This is a significant increase from the annual average of 19 reforms during the past five years.

“The acceleration of business reform activity in the Middle East and North Africa is noteworthy, considering the severity of challenges faced by many governments in the region,” said Rita Ramalho, Manager of the Doing Business project. “It is particularly encouraging to see economies in the region carry out reforms in the area of getting credit, which remains harder in the Middle East and North Africa than anywhere else in the world.”

Morocco and the UAE each undertook reforms over the past year, including reducing registration fees, making start-ups easier, introducing online platforms and clarifying ownership and control structures.

In its global country rankings of business efficiency, Doing Business 2017 awarded its coveted top spot to New Zealand, Singapore ranks second, followed by Denmark.