This regional profile presents the DoingBusiness indicators for economies in Arab World. It alsoshows the regional average, the best performance globallyfor each indicator and data for the following comparatorregions: Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, EastAsia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, LatinAmerica, and OECD High Income. The data in this report arecurrent as of June 1, 2013, except for the paying taxesindicators, which cover the period January to December 2012.Regional Doing Business reports capture differences inbusiness regulations and their enforcement across countriesin a single region. They provide data on the ease of doingbusiness, rank each location, and recommend reforms toimprove performance in each of the indicator areas. Thereport sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for alocal entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-sizebusiness when complying with relevant regulations. Itmeasures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 11areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business,dealing with construction permits, getting electricity,registering property, getting credit, protecting investors,paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Businesspresents quantitative indicators on business regulations andthe protection of property rights that can be comparedacross 189 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, overtime. The data set covers 47 economies in Sub-SaharanAfrica, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 25 in EastAsia and the Pacific, 25 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,20 in the Middle East and North Africa and 8 in South Asia,as well as 31 OECD high-income economies. The indicators areused to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reformshave worked, where and why.