National Competitiveness Center (Tayseer)
The Saudi agency responsible for improving the Kingdom's business environment, cutting regulatory burdens, and advancing Saudi Arabia in global competitiveness rankings.
Definition
The National Competitiveness Center (NCC, also known as Tayseer) is the Saudi government agency responsible for reviewing and reforming regulations to improve the Kingdom’s business environment, reduce bureaucratic barriers, and enhance Saudi Arabia’s standing in global competitiveness and ease-of-doing-business rankings.
Overview
Established in 2019, the National Competitiveness Center operates under the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) and serves as the Kingdom’s dedicated regulatory reform engine. The Arabic name “Tayseer” means facilitation, reflecting the agency’s mission to make it easier for businesses to start, operate, and grow in Saudi Arabia.
The NCC conducts systematic reviews of government regulations across all sectors, identifying and eliminating redundant, contradictory, or unnecessarily burdensome requirements. The centre works with all government agencies to streamline licensing, reduce approval timelines, digitize regulatory processes, and harmonize regulations with international best practices.
Saudi Arabia’s rise in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings (before the index was discontinued) and other global competitiveness indices has been significantly attributed to the NCC’s work. The centre has overseen hundreds of regulatory reforms, including reductions in business start-up time, simplification of construction permits, and improvement of cross-border trade processes.
Key Facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Established | 2019 |
| Oversight | Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) |
| Arabic Name | Tayseer (facilitation) |
| Mission | Regulatory reform and business environment improvement |
| Reforms | Hundreds of regulatory changes implemented |
| Key Metrics | Global competitiveness rankings, business start-up time |
Role in Vision 2030
The NCC is essential to Vision 2030’s goal of making Saudi Arabia one of the most competitive economies globally. Attracting FDI, encouraging private-sector growth, and supporting entrepreneurship all depend on a business environment that is efficient, predictable, and aligned with international standards. The centre’s regulatory reform work directly enables the Ministry of Investment’s FDI attraction efforts and the Shareek Programme’s domestic investment mobilization.
The NCC’s mandate reflects the recognition that mega-project construction and sovereign investment alone cannot deliver economic transformation — the underlying regulatory and institutional environment must also be modernized.