Reforms in Middle East and North Africa, 2006-07
Read about reforms in 2008-09.
Read about reforms in 2007-08.
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Algeria
Algeria resisted the regional trend and made it more difficult for entrepreneurs to do business. Algeria increased the level of uncoordinated inspections, causing additional delays to the customs clearance process and an increase in the time needed to cross-border trade by 2 days for export and 1 day for import.
Djibouti
Djibouti sped property registration from 49 to 40 days by improving efficiency at the Service des Domaines. It also reduced the time for cross-border trade by 4 days for import and 4 days for export mainly by implementing an E-manifest system that is helping to expedite the customs clearance process. Djibouti also opened the way for private participation in the provision of port services.
Egypt
Egypt, the top reformer in the world in 2006-07, improved in 5 of the 10 areas studied by Doing Business, and considerably improved its overall position in the aggregate rankings. Egypt's reforms went deep. Egypt cut the minimum capital required to start a business from EGP 50,000 to EGP 1,000, and halved start-up time and cost. Egypt also reduced the cost of registering property from 3% of the property value to a low fixed fee. New one-stop shops were launched for traders at the ports, cutting the time to import by 7 days and the time to export by 5. Egypt also reduced the cost of dealing with licences.
Israel
Israel reformed its capital investment law. It abolished its stamp duty, reduced corporate tax by 3%, VAT from 17% to 16.5% , and decreased the employer social security contribution. Total tax measure decreased by 3.1% and number of payments was reduced by 1.
Jordan
Jordan enhanced the operations within its one-stop shop at the Company Registry and made a representative of the municipality of Amman present at the Company Registry , causing the time to start a business to fall from 18 to 14 days and business start-up procedures from 11 to 10.
Kuwait
Kuwait introduced a new automated system to all government agencies responsible for issuing technical approvals for the installation of utilities. The total time needed to obtain the approvals for phone lines, electricity connections, water plans, and from the sewage authority has decreased by 10 days. In addition, the private credit bureau has added retailers to its information suppliers database, causing the credit information index to rise by 1 point.
Morocco
Morocco reduced the time needed to obtain new licenses for construction firms by 10 days, by establishing a one-stop shop in Casablanca to provide better communication between the relevant agencies. It also introduced a new risk-based inspections system, causing the time to export to decrease by 2 days, and import by 4 days. However, it complicated the property registration process by adding the requirement to check several tax agencies, rather than just one, in order to obtain a tax clearance certificate. The reform is being implemented nationwide, and adds three procedures to the process of transfer.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia was the runner up reformer in the MENA region this year. It eliminated the minimum capital requirement of 1057% income per capita and sped up company registration from 39 to 15 days. It e nhanced its credit information index for the private bureau by launching a commercial credit bureau that issues reports including the credit exposure of companies. It also reduced the documents required for importing by 1 document, and the ports and terminal handling time by 2 days for import and 2 days for exports.
Syria
Syria approach to easing business regulation was mixed. Syria added an additional step for new companies to enforce publication requirements. Yet, Syria also reduced corporate income tax to 28% from 35% in January 2007 and developed a large-taxpayer unit to make it easier for large businesses to pay taxes.
Tunisia
Tunisia computerized the files in its property registry, reducing the time needed to register a property from 57 to 49 days. Tunisia also reduced the corporate profit tax to 30% from 35%, and enhanced its credit information by lowering the minimum loan requirement at its public registry from 20,000 DT to zero.
West Bank and Gaza
West Bank and Gaza decreased VAT rate from 16% to 14.5% and corporate income tax rate from 16% to 15%, causing total tax rate to decrease by 1.4%. Moreover, t he public credit registry lowered the minimum loan requirement from 10,000 USD to 0, and instructed all the banks to disclose all loans granted to customers without minimum requirements; coverage has tripled.
