Doing Business 2020

The 16th edition of the world bank's Doing Business report, published on 24 October  2019, ranks Morocco 53rd out of 190 countries with a score of 73.4 points out of 100, Morocco has moved up 7 spots in the Doing Business over last year, and 75 spots compared to its ranking in 2009 (the 2010 Doing Business Report). This new ranking represents a significant step forward towards achieving the Top 50 objective by 2021, as scheduled in the government programme.

The significant progress made in the Doing Business ranking is the result of a series of reforms designed to encourage Moroccan companies, modernise the legal and regulatory texts, and simplify the administrative procedures. These reforms, which are part of the CNEA's 2019 action plan, were presented by the CNEA's permanent secretariat to the World Bank Group in May 2019. Those adopted concern principally the following indicators: Protecting minority investors, Getting electricity, Paying Taxes, Dealing with construction permits, Trading across borders, and Enforcing contracts.

The main reforms carried out in 2019 and included in the Doing Business 2020 report are as follows:

• Reforms of Law No. 17.95 relating to public limited companies and Law No. 5.96 on limited liability companies. These reforms have helped strengthen the protection of minority investors and establish the principle of transparency and good governance based on international standards in this area. As a result, Morocco's ranking in the Protecting Minority Investors index jumped from 64th place to 37th place;
• Facilitation of the electrical connection of companies in Casablanca through the launch of an electronic platform, called “e-Raccordement”, for the filing and monitoring of medium voltage connection requests and the development of the use of prefabricated transformer stations. These reforms have had the impact of improving Morocco's ranking from 59th to 34th place in the Getting electricity index;
• Establishment of a new version of the electronic platform "CASAURBA 2.0" for the management and issuance of construction permits, which allowed Morocco to rise to 16th place in the world in the Dealing with construction permits index;
• The establishment of an automated system to allocate cases to judges and publish reports on court performance, which facilitated the execution of contracts and allowed Morocco to reach the 60th rank in the world on this indicator;
• The acceleration of cross-border trade through the establishment of an electronic payment system for port fees, the dematerialization of the customs clearance circuit and the extension of the port's operating hours, which has accelerated cross-border trade operations and raised Morocco to the 58th position in the world;
• The reduction of the corporate tax rate thanks to the institution of a progressive scale of corporate tax, which has enabled Morocco to reach the 24th world rank in the paying taxes index.