World Bank recognizes Saudi Arabia as one of the world's top reformers

Recent reforms in Saudi Arabia improved the Kingdom's position from 38th to 23rd out of 178 countries in the World Bank rankings.

The report ranks Saudi Arabia as the best place to do business in the entire Middle East and Arab World, ahead of Kuwait (40th) and the UAE (68th). The report also ranks Saudi Arabia ahead of advanced economies such as France (31st) and Austria (25th). Commenting on the improvement, Jamal Haidar, co-author of the Doing Business Report 2008 said:

'This year Saudi Arabia made bold business reforms making it one of the world's leading reformers. Saudi Arabia is now the top ranked economy in the Middle East. We expect these reforms will continue to position Saudi Arabia as a business-friendly economy.'

The Kingdom's exceptional performance in this year's rankings has been driven by King Abdullah's vision to increase the prosperity of the people of Saudi Arabia. The King has been the country's strongest advocate for modernizing the Saudi business environment. He has sought to encourage domestic and foreign investment in the country by enacting a new foreign investment law, establishing the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), privatizing public companies, and pursuing membership to the WTO.

The Governor of SAGIA has since institutionalized efforts to liberalize the country's economy with the creation of the National Competitiveness Center (NCC) and the '10 by 10' initiative. 'Under His Majesty the King's leadership, Saudi Arabia has acknowledged the importance of competitiveness and has set a goal for the Kingdom to become one of the top 10 most competitive countries in the world by 2010.' said H.E. Amr Al-Dabbagh, Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).

The reform agenda is having its desired effect. Saudi Arabia has become the number one recipient of foreign direct investment in the Middle East. Inflows have increased from $2 billion USD to $18 billion USD in the last two years. These figures will only grow more rapidly with the development of Saudi Arabia's Economic Cities, special economic zones that are attracting the world's top companies with mega investment opportunities. Meanwhile, the jump in the World Bank rankings from 38th to 23rd is a major step towards achieving the '10 by 10' goal.

Dr Awwad Al-Awwad, Head of 10 by 10 and Deputy Governor of SAGIA added:

'The creation of the National Competitiveness Center, the establishment of the 10 by 10 program, and the close collaboration with key government ministries were the critical components behind Saudi Arabia's reform achievements this year.'

The Kingdom's achievements have emboldened the government to continue to build an attractive business environment for investors and a productive, more prosperous economy for its people. SAGIA and the NCC will play a central role in supporting continued efforts to enhance the Kingdom's fundamental competitiveness.