In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the UAE both recorded some improvement in court-related complexities, according to Allianz Trade, as compared to 2022.
Allianz Trade made these comments in its new report “Trade receivables in a fragmented world: Navigating Collection Complexity”. The previous edition was published in 2022, four years ago.
However, along with Egypt (new to the 2026 edition), Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the countries in the Middle East that top the list of the most complex countries in the world due to several factors: from procedural delays, high costs and general uncertainty of local legal action – notably regarding the enforcement of foreign decisions – to the complexity of the legal framework, the lack of out-of-court/amicable mechanisms and the limited impact of retention of title agreements.
Considering local payment practices, court proceedings and insolvency frameworks, Allianz Trade finds that Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal are the three easiest countries to recover international debt, while Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the UAE remain the most challenging.
Beyond language barriers and cultural differences, which can affect communication styles, negotiation tactics and the overall approach to resolving debt issues, collection complexity is driven by a variety of factors.
At the global level, the key factor of complexity in international debt collection is by far local insolvency proceedings, with no outstanding differences by region. On average, they contribute to half of the collection complexity of countries (51% - stable from the 2022 edition),
In absolute terms, insolvency-related complexity is more of a challenge in the Middle East, notably in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Africa, in particular in South Africa, than in Western Europe.
Collection complexity ranking (1:worst) in MENA
|
Global rank
|
Market
|
2026 score
|
2022 score
|
2018 score
|
|
1
|
Saudi Arabia
|
86
|
91
|
94
|
|
2
|
UAE
|
71
|
72
|
81
|
|
8
|
Egypt
|
61
|
-
|
-
|
|
14
|
Morocco
|
56
|
57
|
60
|
|
27
|
Turkiye
|
45
|
56
|
56
|
|
Source: Allianz Trade
A total of 52 markets were rated in 2026.
The Allianz Trade Collection Complexity score is a measure of the level of complexity relating to international debt collection procedures within each given market from 0 (least complex) to 100 (most complex). The score combines expert judgment by Allianz Trade's collection specialists worldwide (340), and over 40 objective indicators.
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