Morocco Tops North African Countries in Doing Business Rankings

Morocco was ranked the best North African country for doing business and the third in the MENA region in the annual Doing Business rankings.

Morocco has slipped one place, in the report published by the World Bank, taking the 69th position globally out of 190 surveyed countries, far ahead of Tunisia (88th), Egypt (128th) and Algeria (166th).

At the MENA region level, Morocco jumped to the third place behind the UAE, which came in the 21st position globally, and Bahrain (66th) and overtook Oman (71st) for the first time.

At the African level, Morocco maintains its standing in the top three, preceded only by Mauritius (25th) and Rwanda (41st).

The release of the Doing Business report was timely for Morocco as it came to discredit, if need be, the recent statements of Algerian foreign minister, Abdelkader Messahel, who claimed few days ago that Algeria was the top North African country for doing business. He shamelessly demeaned the economic progress made by Morocco as well as the economic situation in Tunisia and Egypt.

The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index ranks 190 countries based on 10 indicators: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting minority investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts and Resolving insolvency.

At the global level, New Zealand came first followed by Singapore, Denmark, Korea, Hong-Kong, China, USA, Great Britain, Norway, Georgia and Sweden.