The UAE has been listed as one of the world’s most improved economies for doing business in the World Bank’s influential Ease of Doing Business rankings for 2017, surging into the top 30 for the first time.
The country was ranked as the 26th-easiest country in the world for doing business, up from 34th place last year, putting it ahead of countries including France, the Netherlands and Japan.
The World Bank identified the UAE as one of the top 10 most improved business environments over the past year, alongside countries Bahrain, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The UAE was judged to have shown particular improvement in the field of protection of minority investors, after new corporate governance rules published by the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority came into force in May.
The introduction of the new regulations helped the UAE rise to the 9th best country in the world for minority investors’ protection, up from 48th in 2016, with minor improvements in ease of starting a business.
However, the UAE’s score on resolving insolvency, calculated ahead of the approval of the country’s new bankruptcy law in September, remains weak, falling 5 places to 104th out of 190 countries.
But the UAE comfortably remains the easiest place to do business in the Arab Middle East, with Bahrain, the next-highest ranked economy, coming in at number 63, followed by Oman in 66th place.
The World Bank ranked New Zealand as the best country for ease of doing business, followed by Singapore and Denmark.
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