WASHINGTON/RIYADH — Gulf countries sharply improved their rankings in the World Bank’s latest Doing Business report, with Saudi Arabia was the most improved climbing 30 places from 62nd last year, the report indicated.
The report, which was largely driven by reforms aimed at building more economic diversification, ranked countries on their business climates, and found that the most improved countries over the previous year were in the Middle East — including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
While Latin American countries largely lagged in reforms and New Zealand took the top spot for the fourth year in a row.
The report released in Washington late Wednesday night ranks countries on their business climates, and found other most improved countries over the previous year were Togo, Tajikistan, Pakistan, China, India and Nigeria.
The World Bank said Saudi Arabia’s reforms included establishing a one-stop shop for business registration, introducing a secured transactions law and an insolvency law, improving protections for minority investors, and measures to bring more women into the workforce.
“Something clearly is happening in the Gulf which has not happened before,” Simeon Djankov, World Bank senior research director and founder of the Doing Business report, told Reuters in Riyadh.
“Everybody here in this region figured out we better diversify the economy in some direction and I think this is actually why the reforms are happening now.”
The report coincides with the scheduled appearance of World Bank President David Malpass at a Saudi investment conference next week.
The World Bank confirmed Malpass’s attendance at the Future Investment Initiative, which aims in part to showcase Saudi Arabia as a business destination. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and presidential adviser Jared Kushner would also attend the conference, US officials said.
“Removing barriers facing entrepreneurs generates better jobs, more tax revenues, and higher incomes, all of which are necessary to reduce poverty and raise living standards,” Malpass said in a statement.
Critics however say the report is too heavily weighted in favor of deregulation.
“This is a pure measure of deregulation. This index takes a fairly extreme position on market fundamentalism,” said Justin Sandefur, a fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington.
The top 10 rankings in the survey were largely unchanged from a year ago, with New Zealand holding its top spot, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, South Korea, the United States, Georgia, Britain, Norway and Sweden.
Latin American countries lagged in the rankings, with Argentina falling seven places to 126th, and Mexico, the region’s highest-ranking economy, falling six spots to 60th. The World Bank said that for the second year in a row, Mexico made no major business climate improvements. — Reuters
