Egyptian business environment ranking dips
BY: HABIBA HANY
@ITSHABIBA
![Egyptian business enviorment ranking drops five spots [Shousha]](http://www.auccaravan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/nile-e1446884609606.jpg)
Egypt’s business environment favorability ranking dropped five spots, a World Bank report said last week.
The World Bank International Finance Corporation’s Doing Business 2016 report, which examines quantitative data showing countries’ economic regulations and constraints, said that Egypt’s current ranking is below the Middle East & North African region average.
In 2015’s Doing Business report, Egypt ranked 126 of 189 world economies. It is now at 131.Egypt is currently ranked the second worst in its region, only ahead of Syria.
The influential report measures the 11 areas that are vital to conducting business: ease of developing a business from the ground up, dealing with construction permits, getting utilities, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labor market regulation.
According to the report, investors found considerable challenges in starting a business, registering property, getting credit and paying taxes in Egypt.
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the department of economics Adel Beshai believes that Egypt’s rank dropped because of the administrative and bureaucratic structure in the country.
“The potentiality of Egypt is infinite, economically,” said Beshai.
“[However,] when you go to the local councils, you get into a bureaucracy that no one has in the past six years managed to clean, and it’s horrible, and I do not expect this to be cured,” he added.
But there is a silver lining in the report: In the past year, Egypt’s ranking improved the ease of securing construction permits, getting electricity, protecting minority investors and resolving insolvency indicators.
Whether Egypt’s business environment has worsened or not, it still remains a closely watched market for investors.
“In the final analysis, foreign investors want to come to Egypt. Why? Because of the market,” said Beshai.
“Egypt has a big market.”
