Business Environment Constraints on Growth in the Mena Region

Abstract

In this paper we contribute to the empirical literature on growth in the MENA region by attempting to quantify the impact of the various constraints faced by local businesses highlighted by the World Bank’s Business Enterprise surveys. To the best of our knowledge this dataset has not been used in any empirical analysis looking at the main constraints on growth in the MENA region. Our empirical results suggest that the key direct constraints to growth in the MENA region are dificulties in access to finance, labor skill mismatches and shortages, and electricity constraints.

Keywords:

• Growth
• physical infrastructure
• labor skill shortages
• financial constraints