2014年-世界发展银行全球_Doing_Business_Economy_Profile_2015___Lebanon_90页_1mb

Doing Business 2015 - Lebanon Summary

Core Content

The Doing Business 2015 report provides an analysis of the regulatory environment for small to medium-sized businesses in Lebanon, comparing it with other economies and benchmarking it against the best practices globally. It measures 11 key areas of business regulation, including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, and labor market regulation.

The report uses two main metrics: the Distance to Frontier (DTF) score and the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking. The DTF score measures how far an economy is from the best regulatory practices, on a scale from 0 (worst) to 100 (frontier). The EoDB ranking ranks economies from 1 (best) to 189 (worst) based on the DTF scores.

Main Points

• Ease of Doing Business Ranking: Lebanon's ranking in 2015 was 104, a slight decline from 102 in 2014.
• Distance to Frontier Score: Lebanon's DTF score remained the same at 60.6, indicating no significant change in regulatory performance.
• Methodological Changes: The report includes 7 major updates, including the introduction of the DTF score, changes to the methodology for the credit information and insolvency indices, and the expansion of the scope of the "protecting minority investors" and "labor market regulation" indicators.
• Data Sources: The data is current as of June 1, 2014, except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover January–December 2013.
• Comparators: Lebanon is compared with other Middle East and North Africa economies (e.g., Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE) and with global best performers (e.g., New Zealand, Singapore, Georgia, etc.).

Key Areas of Business Regulation

Key Findings

• Starting a Business: Lebanon has a relatively complex process, with 5 procedures and 9 days required. It is ranked 119th, worse than Egypt (73), Jordan (86), and much worse than the global best performer, New Zealand (1).
• Dealing with Construction Permits: This is one of the most challenging areas for Lebanon, with 18 procedures and 244 days needed. It ranks 164th, significantly behind the best performer, Hong Kong SAR, China (1).
• Getting Electricity: Lebanon ranks 57th, with 5 procedures and 75 days required. It is far behind the best performer, Korea, Rep. (1), which only requires 3.0 procedures and 18.0 days.
• Registering Property: Lebanon ranks 106th, with 8 procedures and 25 days. It is worse than Georgia (1), which requires only 2 procedures and 6 days.
• Getting Credit: Lebanon ranks 116th, with a DTF score of 35.00. It has a weak legal rights index (2/12) and a low depth of credit information index (5/8). The best performer is New Zealand (12).
• Protecting Minority Investors: Lebanon ranks 106th, with a DTF score of 49.17. It is significantly behind New Zealand (81.67) and has a moderate strength of minority investor protection index (4.9/10).
• Paying Taxes: Lebanon ranks 40th, with a DTF score of 82.44. It is far behind the UAE (1), which has only 4 payments and 12 hours of time. The best performer is the UAE (99.44).
• Trading Across Borders: Lebanon ranks 97th, with 4 documents to export and 22 days. It is behind Singapore (1), which only requires 2 documents and 6 days.
• Enforcing Contracts: Lebanon ranks 110th, with a DTF score of 55.40. It is far behind Singapore (1), which has a DTF score of 89.54.
• Resolving Insolvency: Lebanon ranks 136th, with a DTF score of 33.03. It is far behind Finland (1), which has a DTF score of 93.85.
• Labor Market Regulation: Not included in the aggregate ranking, but the data are presented. It focuses on the retail sector and includes labor disputes and worker benefits.

Conclusion

The Doing Business 2015 report highlights that Lebanon's regulatory environment is relatively inefficient compared to other economies, particularly in areas such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and resolving insolvency. While some areas like getting electricity and registering property have shown modest improvements, the country still lags behind global best practices. The report serves as a valuable tool for policymakers to identify key areas for reform and to benchmark progress against other economies.