According to the
annual World
Bank “Ease of
Doing Business”
index the “easiest” place to
do business in the Middle
East is the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), followed
by Israel and Bahrain – all
three of which rank higher
than South Africa on the
index.
According to the UAE
embassy in Pretoria, the
UAE is the 24th-largest
market for South African
products.
There are around 201
South African companies
with offices in the UAE.
UAE exports to South
Africa range from oilrelated
products and
machinery to textiles,
while major South African
exports comprise gold,
base metals and allied
products, plastic goods
and foodstuffs, among
others.
The UAE is the
“happiest” Arab nation,
according to the United
Nation’s World Happiness
Report, followed by Oman.
Israel has the lowest
costs of importing and
exporting in the region,
according to the World
Bank.
The country has the 56th
largest export economy in
the world and the 18th most
complex economy according
to the 2013 Economic
Complexity Index (ECI).
It is also the 48th largest
importer in the world. South
African relations with Israel
have cooled since 1994.
Major exports to Israel
are agricultural products,
metals and mechanical
and electrical products,
according to the World
Integration Solution
(WITS).
The main imports from
Israel are stone and glass,
mechanical and electrical
goods and chemicals.
South Africa has been
courting Oman, with
president Zuma visiting the
country in 2011.
According to the World
Bank, Oman imported
around US$75 million
worth of goods from South
Africa in 2014.
The biggest categories
were metals, minerals,
transportation equipment
and vegetables.
Oman exports fuel to
South Africa.
Highest ranked in the
“trading across borders”
category is Jordan, followed
by Israel and Oman.
Trading across border
scores are calculated by
taking the time and costs
of exports and imports into
account.
In the table on the left
the cost to export is a sum
of the costs of border and
documentary compliance.
Hours to export is made up
of border and documentary
compliance. The costs and
hours to import are also
sums of the border and
documentary compliance
figures as supplied by the
World Bank.
CAPTION
Emirates SkyCargo’s state-of-the-art cargo terminal at the Logistics District in Dubai South which was officially inaugurated earlier
this month. Dubai has positioned itself as the logistics hub of the Middle East.
