World Bank sees no efforts to improve doing business

Progress made in access to credit

Lebanon has made no reform towards a better business environment, a World Bank report said. Doing Business 2013, published on October 22, ranked the country in the 115th place globally out of 185 economies, down from 104th place among 183 countries last year. It came behind Egypt and Jordan which ranked 106th and 109th respectively.

The report is based on ten indicators covering all procedures required for starting, running, and closing down a business in a certain country.

Starting a business in Lebanon requires five procedures and nine days, compared to the average of eight steps and 21 days in the MENA region. Compared to last year, the country’s ranking regressed on all the indicators, except for the procedures needed to register a property.

Compared to 2005, progress was made at the level of three indicators: Starting a business, access to credit, and external trade.

But the country still lags behind most of the world on the ease of dealing with construction permits, ranking in 172nd place. Obtaining a construction permit has not changed since 2006. It still requires 19 procedures and 219 days.