The UAE has done more to protect minority investors in the past year than any other nation, according to the Doing Business 2014 report.
It helped the UAE to jump three notches to 23 in the ranking for the report, conducted jointly by the World Bank and IFC, which assesses how easy it is for small and medium enterprises to do business in 189 nations across the world.
The Emirates was once again the highest-rated Arab nation in the annual report, followed by Saudi Arabia in 26th spot. Singapore was deemed the most business-friendly country, topping the ranking.
“The UAE was the economy improving minority shareholder protections the most in 2012-13,” according to the report, which considers 11 other factors including ease of getting credit and the time taken to settle insolvencies.
The report referenced a ministerial decree of August last year, which required companies to include in their annual financial statements detailed information on deals during the past year involving parties closely linked to the company through family or business ties.
No such disclosure obligation previously existed, it said. The same decree also entitles any shareholder of a company to file a petition in court seeking to suspend deals done in breach of the law.
Despite the improvements, the UAE still ranked 98th in the level of protection it gave investors.
Risks to minority shareholders from wrongful business dealings were highlighted globally in late 2011 after the Japanese optical equipment maker Olympus admitted to overpaying for goods and services bought from related parties. Shareholders filed a lawsuit last year, seeking US$240 million in compensation for the resulting losses on their investments.
In other areas, the report said the UAE had also made it easier for businesses to get electricity by improving the efficiency process. It ranked fourth overall in the ease of getting electricity index. The country also made registering property easier, allowing it to score fourth in that index.
Following criticism from China and an independent review about the rankings within the survey in previous reports, the World Bank revised this year’s study. It retained the controversial rankings but toned down some of the negative commentary about poorly performing nations. Instead, it opted to focus more on where nations are making progress in reform.
For the first time, Libya, South Sudan and Myanmar were included in this year’s survey. All three were found to have old and archaic business regulations, with the civil code and civil and commercial procedure codes all dating back to 1953 in Libya. However, since independence in 2011, South Sudan had passed a company law, insolvency law and tax law, the report noted.
Given the level of civil strife in Syria, the country was unsurprisingly deemed to have suffered the biggest deterioration in business rules in the past year.
“The time and cost associated with trading across borders increased substantially, for example, and no building permits are being issued in Damascus, making it impossible to legally build new construction,” the report noted.
The UAE and other GCC nations have long supported the Doing Business surveys, often using them as benchmark for where they need to make reforms.
tarnold@thenational.ae
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Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
Jawan
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Company%20Profile
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Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
