By NNN-Bernama
Dubai : Saudi Arabia has jumped 15 places to 23rd for best investment climate among 178 countries evaluated on the basis of 10 indicators that affect their business environment, according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business 2008” report.
World Bank vice-president for financial and private sector development Michael Klein said the indicators are business regulations that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation and closure.
The report noted that Saudi Arabia has eliminated the minimum capital requirement of 1,057 per cent of income per capita and reduced the days needed for company start-up from 39 to 15, the English language daily Gulf News reported.
The report said Saudi Arabia had undergone significant economic reforms. “Saudi Arabia has last year undergone a number of qualitative reforms that make it one of the most successful countries in the world in terms of economic reform,” the report’s author, Jamal Haidar, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
“The kingdom’s economy is on top at the Middle East region level and we expect these reforms would enhance Saudi Arabia’s stance as an economy that provides good business environment,” he said.
Last week, the Saudi Cabinet decided that foreign business visitors to the kingdom would be granted multiple-entry visas, valid for one year, and need not present a letter of invitation from a Saudi business when applying to visit the country.
Prominent business leaders say the relaxed entry requirements will boost foreign investment, allowing Saudi executives to meet potential clients in the kingdom rather than forcing them to meet in other Gulf countries.
The difficulty of gaining entry to the country has frequently been put forward as a major disincentive to potential investors and a hindrance to the kingdom’s economic development, the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) reported.
Abdul Rahman al-Jeraisy, chairman of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Cabinet’s decision “lifts an obstacle which the Saudi private sector and chambers of commerce have been complaining about and enhances openness of trade and investment”.
However, no timeframe has been set for implementing the decision.