Egypt’s ranking jumps 8 places on Doing Business 2019

CAIRO – 1 November 2018: The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced that Egypt marked a progress on Doing Business 2019 report entitled “Training for Reform”, by moving eight centers forward.

The report monitored Egypt's reforms to improve the investment climate and streamline procedures in five areas: establishment of companies, access to credit, protection of small investors, and payment of taxes and settlement of insolvency (to exit the market) to help create jobs, attract investment and increase the competitiveness of the economy.

The report added that this is the largest number of reforms implemented in Egypt in one year during the past 10 years, and the second largest number of reforms undertaken by a MENA country this year.

In 2018, Egypt also implemented the largest number of reforms compared to other Arab countries, the report read.

The report said that Egypt is increasing the ability of projects to obtain financing by issuing the Movable Safeguards Law, which for the first time allows companies to obtain financing by guaranteeing movables.

Egypt has also succeeded in increasing the protection of small investors through amendments to the Companies Law and its implementing regulations, the report pointed out.

The report clarified that the start of the business was facilitated by abolishing the requirement of obtaining a bank certificate, establishing a one-stop system to complete the procedures and reduce the time required to start the business to 11 days now from 16 days earlier.

The report also noted that Egypt facilitated access to credit by strengthening the rights of borrowers and lenders in terms of collateral. The protection of minority rights from shareholders was strengthened by requiring companies to increase transparency.

Also, improvements were made in the area of tax payments by extending the monetary value-added refund system to include manufacturing in the case of capital investment.

According to the report, Egypt has facilitated the settlement of insolvency by applying a reorganization mechanism for insolvent companies that allows debtors to initiate reorganization proceedings, gives creditors greater participation in the proceedings, and has performed well in the area of building permits.

The cost of completing all necessary procedures for obtaining a license to build a warehouse has become 1.6 percent of the warehouse value compared to an average of 4.7 percent in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said that Egypt achieved in this year's report the highest rise in its ranking in the credit index to come 60th instead of 90th in 2017's report with an upgrade of 30 positions.

Egypt's position on the Insolvency Settlement Index improved by 14, bringing Egypt's position from 115 in 2017 to 101th in this year's report, Nasr stated.

Egypt’s ranking in the Small Investor Protection Index, improved by 9 to 72 instead of 81 in 2017, and in the tax payment index marked a progress to 159th place compared to 167th in 2017's report, with an upgrade of eight positions.

She added that Egypt's position in the cross-border trade index improved by one position to 170 from 171 in 2017.

"The remarkable acceleration in the pace of reform of business processes in Egypt is a sign of optimism for the country's commitment to entrepreneurship and empowering private sector institutions," Acting World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti Samia Msadek said.

“We look forward to continued efforts in order to adopt fair, transparent and efficient regulatory practices to stimulate private sector-led job creation efforts,” Msadek added.