JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has made unprecedented progress in helping to ease business and boost investor confidence, according to a world report.
The Kingdom is among the top 20 countries in the world, and second among the most high-income in G-20 countries, at making reforms to improve the business climate, a World Bank Group report said.
Saudi Arabia’s progress in ease of doing business for 2018 excelled in six of 10 axes: Protecting minority investors, enforcing contracts, starting a business, cross-border trade, registering property and settling bankruptcy, the report added.
The Kingdom’s strong reforms have led to progress in protecting the minority shareholders, ranking 10th in the world, which is a strong signal to those interested in investing in the Kingdom, according to the report.
The reforms also included facilitating payment of taxes by improving the electronic filing system to raise tax returns and pay taxes. It reduced the number of hours required to pay taxes from 67 to 47 hours, the report highlighted.
The Kingdom has also facilitated cross-border trade by reducing the number of documents required for customs clearance, reducing the processing time required by nine days for exports (from 90 days to 81 days) and imports (from 131 days to 122 days), the report stated.
One of the other reforms undertaken by the Kingdom has been to improve efficiency of the land management system by simplifying registration procedures.
This is the first time that the Kingdom has achieved reforms in six axes in one year. It had only four reforms in 2009 and 2011.
All those results were achieved through “Taysir”, a committee for improving performance of business in the private sector.
The committee works in accordance with an integrated vision with relevant government agencies to facilitate procedures ensuring efficiency and facilitate the business practice to improve rank in the indexes of ease of doing business and improve the Kingdom’s ranking in the Global Competitiveness Report.
The committee was formed upon a decision issued by the Economic and Development Affairs Council and headed by Majed bin Abdullah Al-Qassabi, minister of commerce and investment. The committee aims to set up a plan improving performance of businesses in the private sector and motivating them to participate in the economic development in accordance with the Kingdom Vision 2030.
The committee seeks to improve laws and regulations that stimulate the business environment in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia ranks 2nd in world’s high-income countries for business reforms for 2018
Saudi Arabia ranks 2nd in world’s high-income countries for business reforms for 2018
