Egypt, which was the world's top reformer of business regulations last year, continued to lead, with improvements in six of the 10 areas the report covers. Egypt advanced 11 places in the global rankings on the ease of doing business. The region's other leaders in reforming regulations are Saudi Arabia and Tunisia; each made it easier to do business in four areas.

For a fifth year, the region's most popular area for reform is business start-up, with nine economies making improvements. Yemen implemented one of the boldest reforms, reducing the world's second-highest minimum capital requirement and launching a one-stop shop for business start-ups. The next most popular area for reform, credit bureau enhancements that improve access to credit, saw activity in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and the West Bank and Gaza.

Doing Business ranks economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that record the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.

"Economies worldwide are increasingly committed to regulatory reforms, and this is evident in the Middle East and North Africa, the region with the second-largest share of economies that made it easier to do business," said Dahlia Khalifa, a coauthor of the report. "Many economies, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are consistently making improvements and are advancing in the global rankings. Across the region, countries are making it easier to do business by looking to early pacesetters for ideas on how to reform," she added.

Among regions, Eastern Europe and Central Asia led in reforms of business regulation for a fifth consecutive year, with more than 90 percent of its countries making improvements. And the trend is moving eastward as newcomers join the list of economies making the most reforms: the top 10 are, in order, Azerbaijan, Albania, the Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Egypt.

Singapore tops the global rankings on the overall regulatory ease of doing business for a third consecutive year. New Zealand is runner-up, with the United States third. Newcomers to the top 25 this year include Bahrain, which debuted in the Doing Business aggregate rankings at 18. Saudi Arabia advanced to 16. (This year's report covers Bahrain and Qatar for the first time.)

"Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all who use them. Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers, and where workers lack the protection of labor law," said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development. "Doing Business encourages good rules, and good rules are a better basis for healthy business than 'who you know,'" he added.

Doing Business 2009 ranks 181 economies on the overall ease of doing business. The top 25 are, in order, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Hong Kong (China), Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Finland, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Bahrain, Belgium, Malaysia, Switzerland, Estonia, Korea, Mauritius, and Germany.

Fact Sheet—Summary of Reforms in the Middle East and North Africa

In Algeria no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 132

In Bahrain no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 18

Djibouti improved its port administration and reduced the number of documents required for exporting and importing. That cut the time needed to import from 18 days to 16, the documents needed to export from 8 to 5, and those needed to import from 6 to 5.

Areas of Reform: Trading Across Borders

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 153

Egypt was once again among the top 10 global reformers—the third time in 4 years—and top regional reformer this year. Egypt made starting a business easier by reducing the paid-in minimum capital requirement by more than 80%, abolishing bar association fees, and automating tax registration. A new building code introduced in 2008 is aimed at reducing the procedures and time required to deal with construction permits by establishing a single window for processing construction-related approvals. Simplified administrative procedures for registering property and new time limits have reduced the time to transfer property in Cairo from 193 days to 72. The port of Alexandria continued to upgrade its facilities and sped customs clearance, reducing the time to export by 1 day and the time to import by 3. New listing rules for the Cairo Stock Exchange strengthened protections for minority shareholders: now an independent body must assess transactions between interested parties before they are approved. And thanks to new regulations issued by the Central Bank of Egypt, borrowers have the right to inspect their data in the private credit bureau.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction Permits, Registering Property, Getting Credit (Information), Protecting Investors, Trading across Borders

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 114

In Iran no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 142

In Iraq no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 152

In Israel no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 30

Jordan reduced the paid-in minimum capital requirement for starting a business by 97%.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 101

In Kuwait no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 52

Lebanon streamlined business registration, reducing the time needed to start a business from 46 days to 11 and eliminating 1 procedure.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 99

Morocco guaranteed the right of borrowers to inspect data on their creditworthiness, increasing their ability to control the accuracy of the information used by financial institutions in assessing their risk profiles. Morocco reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 30%, effective 2008. And it simplified document requirements for importing and exporting, reducing the time to import by 1 day.

Areas of Reform: Getting Credit (Information), Paying Taxes, Trading across Borders

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 128

Oman's one-stop shop at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry became fully operational, reducing the number of business start-up procedures by 3 procedures and time by 21 days.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 57

In Qatar no major reforms were recorded.

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 37

Saudi Arabia, a top regional reformer, made it easier to start a business by continuing to sim¬plify formalities for commercial registration and reducing registration fees by 80%. The time to start a business fell by 3 days. Saudi Arabia strengthened protections for minority shareholders through new provisions that prohibit interested parties from voting on the approval of related-party transactions and increase sanctions against directors for misconduct. It sped the registration of property with a comprehensive electronic system for registering title deeds. And it was the only reformer in the region in the area of closing a business this year. Its Ministry of Commerce introduced strict deadlines for bankruptcy procedures. Auctions of debtors' assets are expected to take place more quickly than before.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Registering Property, Protecting Investors, Closing a Business

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 16

Syria introduced a new commercial code that simplified business start-up by taking lawyers and the court out of the registration process. Reforms at the tax directorate simplified tax registration for new businesses. The entry of private banks in the Syrian market sped the issuance of letters of credit lowering the overall time to import and export.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Trading across Borders

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 137

Tunisia, a top regional reformer, abolished the paid-in minimum capital requirement for limited liability companies with the new the Law on Economic Initiative. The law also allows minority investors to request a judge to rescind a prejudicial related-party transaction. The Central Bank of Tunisia now collects and distributes more detailed credit information from banks—both positive information (such as loan amounts) and negative information (such as arrears and defaults). And individuals and firms can check their credit data in all Central Bank offices. The Ministry of Finance introduced a new option for paying taxes—"téléliquidation." Firms can file their tax returns online and determine the exact amount of their payment before paying the taxes at the tax office. A new requirement that freight arriving at the port be accompanied by a unit of the customs authority has increased the time to import by 1 day.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Getting Credit (Information), Protecting Investors, Paying Taxes, Trading across Borders (making it more difficult)

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 73

The United Arab Emirate's credit bureau, Emcredit, started collecting information on the repayment pattern of individual borrowers as well as firms in February 2007. This has allowed better supervision of the debt level of banks and borrowers.

Areas of Reform: Getting Credit (Information)

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 46

West Bank and Gaza's information management system at the commercial registry became fully operational, cutting the time to start a business by 43 days. The Central Bank has set up an online system for lenders to access credit information. . Fees related to construction permitting increased total cost by almost 20%.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business, Getting Credit (Information), Dealing with Construction Permits (making it more difficult)

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 131

Yemen introduced a one stop shop and cut the paid-in minimum capital requirements. The new one-stop shop makes it possible to complete business start-up at a single location and easier to obtain a license from the municipality and to register with the chamber of commerce and the tax office. This was one of the boldest reforms recorded in this year's Doing Business report, and resulted in an advance of 25 positions in the global aggregate rankings for Yemen.

Areas of Reform: Starting a Business

Rank in Doing Business 2009: 98