Saudi Arabia remained the regional leader with a global ease of doing business ranking of 12, the new IFC and World Bank report titled "Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World" released Friday showed. Qatar implemented its first reforms since 2005 and climbed to 36 on the global scorecard by improving its credit information system. The United Arab Emirates further streamlined the requirements for business start-up, and improved its ranking to 33. Morocco improved its business regulation the most compared to other global economies, climbing 21 places to 94, by simplifying the construction permitting process, easing the administrative burden of tax compliance, and providing greater protections to minority shareholders. Since 2005, Morocco has implemented 15 business regulatory reforms. The report finds that six of the region's 18 business regulatory reforms measured made it easier to start a business. For example, Jordan reduced the minimum capital required to start a company, and Oman's new one-stop shop for entrepreneurs cut business registration time from seven days to three. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a record 36 out of 46 economies improved business regulations this year. Over the past six years, 163 economies have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly. China, India, and the Russian Federation are among the 30 economies that improved the most over time. New data showed that the region can improve access to information on business regulations. "The region's entrepreneurs can be empowered by stronger institutions and better access to information," said Neil Gregory, Senior Manager, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. "In more than half of the region's economies, an entrepreneur must meet with an official to get fee schedules or documentation requirements for many business procedures. E-government initiatives, the global trend, can help relieve bureaucratic burdens on entrepreneurs by offering transparent and sustainable solutions." Over the past six years 17 economies in the Middle East and North Africa have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly. "Making business regulations more efficient and accessible increases opportunities for economic growth," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. "By helping businesses get started, the economies of the Middle East and North Africa can offer hope to entrepreneurs, who are the engine behind job creation." Eleven out of 18 economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) improved business regulations for entrepreneurs in the past year, moving forward despite political and economic uncertainty in the region, the new report said. The report assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 183 economies. The report ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency, and enforcing contracts. The study's methodology expanded this year to include indicators on getting electricity connections. This year's report data cover regulations measured from June 2010 through May 2011. The report rankings on ease of doing business have expanded to include indicators on getting electricity. The report finds that getting an electrical connection is most efficient in Iceland; Germany; Taiwan, China; Hong Kong SAR, China; and Singapore. The global report shows that governments in 125 economies out of 183 measured implemented a total of 245 business regulatory reforms-13 percent more reforms than in the previous year.
