An Estimation of Service Sectors Restrictiveness in The MENA Region

Abstract This paper aims at assessing barriers to service provision in the banking, telecom (fixed and mobile), insurance and transport (air and maritime) sectors of four MENA countries, by including both trade and domestic restrictions. The qualitative information gathered is the basis of the computation of sectoral aggregate and modal trade restrictiveness indexes (TRIs). These TRIs, already computed in the previous chapter, are used as regressors of firms’ economic performance indicators to capture the economic impact of restrictions. The estimated coefficients of the TRIs are then used to compute the aggregate and modal tax equivalents of service restrictions by sector. The results show that service restrictions have an impact on economic performance in the three studied sectors. While a rent-creating effect seems to dominate restrictions on banking and fixed telecom sectors, a cost-inefficiency effect seems to dominate the mobile telecom sector. Moreover, interactions between modal restrictions seem to be taking place, especially in the telecom sectors. Finally, higher levels of tax equivalents in the insurance and transport sectors characterize MENA countries in comparison to OECD countries. Arabic Abstract: