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Cairo / Emirates Business
The World Bank has announced, during a ceremony to celebrate the release of its 14th Doing Business Report, that Egypt moved up nine places compared to last year. The country now ranks 122, which represents a significant improvement on its previous ranking of 131.
The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mohamed Khodeir, the CEO of the General Authority for Investment (GAFI), as well as representatives from other ministries and from GAFI. “Egypt offers abundant opportunities to investors and we are determined to foster investment in Egypt, in order to create the jobs needed to increase economic growth and improve living standards.
“We have a plan and are making the necessary changes to attract the investments that will benefit Egyptians and investors alike. Momentum is growing and we are already seeing the results of our efforts. We welcome the World Bank’s recognition that Egypt is an increasingly attractive place to do business.†said Dalia Khorshed, Egypt’s Minister of Investment.
The jump in Egypt’s overall ranking is due to significantly improved performance across a wide range of indicators. The country now ranks 39th world-wide on Starting a Business, a jump of 34 places; 11th in Protecting Small Investors, a leap of eight places; Getting Electricity, now ranked 88th, jumping 56 places; Dealing with Construction Permits, now ranked 64th, an improvement of 49 places; Resolving Insolvency, now ranked 109th, improving by ten places and finally Registering Property, now ranked 109th.
The improved results come in the wake of major reforms undertaken by the Ministerial Committee, established by the Egyptian Prime Minister and headed by the Minister of Investment, HE Dalia Khorshed, which aims to identify the challenges and create the strategy for fulfilling the report’s criteria. The Committee has been working for six months and the above milestones are a sign of the country’s result-oriented approach.
Most notably GAFI, the executive arm of the Ministry of Investment, has succeeded in consolidating numerous processes related to company incorporation and appointed a department to obtain, on behalf of investors, paperwork required for establishing a business. Equally important were recent investments in the energy sector that reduced power cuts and accelerated Egypt’s ranking on the Getting Electricity indicator, the highest incline (56 points) during the year.
The report however downgraded Egypt’s ranking in terms of Paying Taxes as additional criteria were imposed by the World Bank related to the Value Added Tax, which was only passed in Parliament in August and imposed last month.