Overview

Doing Business in Morocco, the first subnational report on the country, measures the ways in which government regulations enhance business activity or constrain it at the subnational level. The report measures regulations in 4 Doing Business areas: starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property, and enforcing contracts. The regions in Morocco covered by this report are represented by their biggest cities: Agadir, Kenitra, Marrakech, Meknes, Oujda/Nador, Settat, and Tangier.  Casablanca, which is covered in the global Doing Business 2008 report, is included as a point of reference.

Main Findings

• There were significant differences in the ease of doing business among the 8 regions studied. Doing business was easiest in Agadir and most difficult in Tangier.
• Even the best performing regions in Morocco had a long way to go to reach the best global ranks. Regions could find inspiration in existing best practices within Morocco as well as in the pace of reforms in countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
• If Morocco adopted the best regional practices found in each of the measured indicator areas, its global ranking, as measured by Doing Business 2008, would improve by 16 places. Morocco would then rank 113th—passing Algeria, Brazil, Egypt, and India.