Middle East and North Africa

Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking - Eyes on COMESA (April 2010)

The Global Investment Promotion Benchmarking Report – Eyes on COMESA contains examples of best practice facilitation from investment promotion intermediaries in the COMESA region and includes specific recommendations for improvement for countries in this region.

Reforming Customs Clearance in Pakistan (April 2010)

Simple, fast, transparent customs clearance procedures encourage trade and the resulting tariffs and related taxes raise government revenue and stimulate economic development. This note, the first in a series of four on trade logistics reform issues and initiatives, discusses Pakistan’s development of a modern single window system for customs clearance and offers lessons from the experience.

Tax Compliance Cost Surveys: Using Data to Design Targeted Reforms (February 2010)

A tax compliance cost survey can provide useful information for the design of reforms to reduce compliance costs and risks for small businesses. This note highlights key findings of tax compliance cost surveys conducted in South Africa, the Republic of Yemen, Ukraine, and Peru that measured the burdens on business. These surveys helped fine-tune the design of reforms to lower costs for businesses and improve their competitiveness.

How Many Stops in a One Stop Shop? (January 2010)

Many governments have introduced one-stop shops as part of their reform of the business registration process. But what is a one-stop shop? Is it like any other shop? Can it really involve just one stop? IFC has commissioned this study to provide some background and possibly a few hints for those contemplating setting up a one-stop shop or improving one that already exists.

A Handbook for Tax Simplification (October 2009)

The Handbook for Tax Simplification provides policy makers and tax practitioners with a framework to assess a tax system, including measuring its various parameters and systems of management. The book analyzes the impact of income tax, the value added tax (VAT), and other local taxes that are imposed on business and defines the best practices for tax policy and tax administration that will yield a system that is simple, predictable and one which does not create an undue burden on private enterprise. Topics addressed in this handbook range from the principal policy considerations for any reform initiative to practical and user-friendly templates for implementing policy and measuring the effectiveness of reform. This book provides a check-list that can help policy makers identify the binding constraints imposed by tax system on business and provides recommendations on how these constrains may be minimized or even removed within the existing political economy environment.

Stakeholder Management in Business Registration Reforms - Lessons from 10 Countries (June 2009)

As business environment reforms expand into new areas of public policy, the intense conflicts inherent in reform are better recognized. A particular obstacle to reform lies in the active and passive resistance from stakeholders. This report provides policymakers and their advisers, with a practical set of approaches and strategies for managing stakeholder outcomes to accelerate and sustain business registration reforms. Using case studies from 10 countries, this report examines how diverse stakeholders participated in reforms aimed at reducing the costs, delays and corruption associated with the business registration functions of government. The analysis identifies how reformers can purposefully “manage” stakeholders to expand and sustain the capacity for change within the political economy.