The UAE continued to keep its lead in the Middle East and Arab region in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking 2020 with 16th position in the global ranking of 190 countries.
The country was ranked 11th position in the World Bank ranking in 2019. Despite a dip in the overall ranking, the UAE continue to keep its score high in key areas of the global ranking.
The World Bank report makes special mention of reforms undertook by the UAE last year such as making starting of a business less expensive by reducing the fees for business incorporation, easier construction permits by using a risk-based approach to reduce the number of inspections, improving minority investor protection, ease of paying taxes and making trading across borders easier by reducing the time to export by fully digitizing certificates of origin and the cost to import by issuing certificates of conformity that cover multiple shipments.
Inspiration for GCC region
The World Bank report made a special mention of improvements across the GCC in business reforms and the role of UAE as an inspiration for its neighbourhood.
“The business regulatory reforms across the Gulf economies have been on a steady rise. These changes are motivated in part by the urgent need for economic diversification. Successful reforms in neighbouring states, such as the United Arab Emirates, have also served as inspiration,” the report said
Saudi Arabia is the most improved economy in Doing Business 2020, with a total of eight reforms. “With a reformist mindset, the crown prince has implemented and promoted a policy of featuring the Kingdom as an open world-class investment destination. The Kingdom’s “Vision 2030” plan for long-term development encompasses a variety of legal and structural reforms,” said the report.
Source: Gulf News