Morocco has moved seven places to be 53rd among 190 nations in the World Bank's Doing Business ranking released on Thursday. The Kingdom is positioned 1st in North Africa and 3rd in the Arab World. Morocco has climbed seven rungs in the World Bank's 2020 Doing Business report, standing at 53, among 190 countries and economies around the world. With a score of 73.4 points, the Kingdom tops the North Africa region, positioned ahead of Tunisia, ranked 78th, Egypt (114th), Mauritania (152nd), Algeria (157th) and Libya (186th). According to the Doing Business global ranking, the Kingdom of Morocco is ranked third in Africa, behind Mauritius (13th) and Rwanda (38th). In the Arab World, Morocco is in the third place behind the United Arab Emirates (16th) and Bahrain (43rd). Meanwhile Morocco is ranking ahead of several other Arab economies, including that of Saudi Arabia (62nd), Oman (68th), Jordan, Qatar (77th) and Kuwait (83rd). Making it easier to do business The annual report, which is based on 10 major subindices that value and measure the attractiveness of every country for investors, considers Morocco as one of the few countries that «improved the ease of doing business». Indeed, the writers of the World Bank report, released Thursday, indicate that Morocco has been able to make «dealing with construction permits easier by improving its online platform and further streamlining the process, making it possible to apply for and obtain certificates of conformity online». Moreover, Doing Business reports that the country made getting electricity «easier» through online applications for «new connections», all while expanding the use of rebuilt transformers. Morocco has been able to improve other factors related to doing business, including «reducing the corporate income tax rate» and «introducing e-payment of port fees, streamlining paperless customs clearance, and extending port hours of operation». «Morocco made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an automated system that randomly assigns cases to judges and by publishing court measurement performance reports», the report added. The Kingdom has also succeeded in protecting minority investors by «expanding shareholders» role in major transactions, «promoting independent directors, increasing transparency on directors' employment in other companies and making it easier to request general meetings». In addition to the positive steps Morocco has taken to make doing business easier, the country has also failed in improving some factors. According to the report, the Kingdom has made property registration less transparent. «Morocco made property registration less transparent by not publishing statistics on the number of property transactions and land disputes for the previous calendar year», Doing Business concluded. For the record, the annual report was topped by New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark and South Korea. Libya, Yemen, Venezuela, Eritrea and Somalia were, however, at the bottom of the ranking.
