According to the Global Index of Economic Openness, compiled by the Legatum Institute, Morocco is one of the countries that are open to commerce in the MENA region. The Kingdom ranks first in North Africa. Morocco is one of the countries that are open to commerce in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, according to the Global Index of Economic Openness which ranks 156 countries' ability to trade. The index released on May 17 and conducted by the Legatum Institute, an independent educational charity based in London, ranks the Kingdom 76th. The country managed to better its performance compared to the previous year, when it was ranked 77th. Data compiled by the Economic Openness index shows that Morocco is well positioned in North Africa. Indeed, the Kingdom is ranked first in the region, ahead of Tunisia 87th, Egypt 102nd, Algeria 126th, Mauritania 149th and Libya 150th. However, Morocco is ranked behind other nations from the MENA region. The North African country is in the 9th place, behind the United Arab Emirates 30th, which tops the list, Qatar 39th, Bahrain 46th, Oman 53rd, Saudi Arabia 55th, Jordan 61st and Kuwait 73th. Openness, infrastructure and governance The index is based on four main factors that evaluates countries' openness to commerce. Ranking nations based on these sub-indexes, the report indicates that Morocco's best performance is linked to the market access and infrastructure factor (62nd), which «measures the quality of the infrastructure that enables trade, such as communications, transport and energy, and the inhibitors of the flow of goods and services to and from a country's trading partners». Morocco is ranked 70th when it comes to the investment and environment sub-index which looks into the «extent to which investments are protected adequately through the existence of property rights, investor protections and contract enforcement». Meanwhile, the Kingdom is 84th in the enterprise conditions, a sub-index that «measures how easy it is for businesses to start, compete and expand». Morocco's weakest performance is related to the governance sub-index (93rd), which focuses on the «nature of a country's governance has a material impact on its prosperity» and measures «the extent to which there are checks and restraints on power and whether governments operate effectively and without corruption». The Global Index of Economic Openness' ranking is topped by Hong Kong 1st, Singapore 2nd, the Netherlands 3rd, Switzerland 4th and Denmark 5th. On the other hand, Venezuela 153rd, Central African Republic 154th, Yemen 155th, the Democratic Republic of Congo 156th and Chad 157th are at the bottom of the ranking. For the record, the Global Index of Economic Openness was created with the support of the Templeton World Charitable Foundation to rank «countries' ability to interact with, and benefit from, both domestic and international commerce», the authors of the report said.
