Ease of Doing Business: UAE and Saudi Arabia lead Mideast rankings

Saudi Arabia ranked 49 among the 189 countries surveyed for the latest World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report as Singapore topped the list.
Singapore with 88.27 points occupies the top position in the ease of doing business followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark and South Korea respectively.
The UAE, ranked 22, leads the Middle East rankings. Other Gulf states received the following positions: Qatar (50), Bahrain (53), Oman (66) and Kuwait (86).
Commenting on the study, a Riyadh-based economic source commented: “As it stands, there is a perception that the Kingdom’s rank declined by 23 positions. However, this decline was due to a change in the methodology employed by those prepared the latest report.”
The source added: “When using the new methodology, the Kingdom’s actual ranking last year would have been 44 and not 26, showcasing our decline by 5 points and not 23.”
The Saudi source also highlighted the following points:
1. The move to 49 was due to the change in methodology
2. This report is focused on local investments and not international investments
3. The report is concerned with only small and medium investments
4. According to the new methodology the Kingdom’s ranking changed last year from
26 to 44. So in actuality, Saudi Arabia declined by only 5 positions.
“‘Doing Business’ measures a slender segment of the complex organism that any modern economy is,” admitted World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu in a forward to the report.
“An economy can do poorly on ‘Doing Business’ indicators but do well in macroeconomic policy or social welfare interventions.”
According to the report, Eritrea was at the bottom of the table, along with Libya, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The World Bank ranking uses metrics such as the time taken to launch and close a business, gain construction permits and pay taxes in a country’s largest business city.
Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 12th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies— from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe— and over time.Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 12th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies — from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe — and over time.
Among other major countries, the US has been ranked seventh, Britain (eight), China (90), Philippines (95) Sri Lanka (99), India (142), Nepal (108), Maldives (116), Bhutan (125), and Pakistan (128).
The top 10 was filled out by Denmark, South Korea, Norway, the US, Britain, Finland and Australia, mostly the same developed economies as in previous years.