The World Bank published its annual Doing Business report. This year, the study has included nearly 190 countries across the world. The report compared business regulations for domestic companies in these economies. It based the ranking on various factors. Among them are, for example: file tax returns, time required to start a business, strength of public institutions, price of commercial regulations, as well as export and import of goods. The World Bank has also paid attention to the number and the effectiveness of the business reforms in each economy.
The top five economies which offer the best conditions for doing business are the same as last year’s. Singapore occupies the lead at the 1st position. Starting a business in this country takes barely 2.5 days and 3 different procedures. It is followed by Hong Kong (2) and New Zealand (3). The first five ranking is completed by the United States and Denmark at the 4th and 5th positions, respectively.
Ukraine managed to make the biggest progress on the 2014 ranking. It jumped with 25 positions in just one year. According to the World Bank, this is mainly due to the reforms made over the last twelve months. Ukraine now offers more simplicity in areas like bankruptcy, value-added tax, as well as customs.
Another country which demonstrated an impressive improvement was Malaysia. The report states that the Malaysian economy made a huge progress over the past year. As a result, it had to problem to enter the top 10 ranking at the 6th spot. The country successfully improved business conditions for firms by lowering startup costs. In addition, Malaysia now offers businesses one-stop services which they can use when they apply for construction permits.
The United Arab Emirates is 23rd on the Doing Business ranking. This makes the federation the top country in the Middle East and North Africa region in ease for doing business. The UAE improved its position with three spots over the last one year by winning 2.22 more points. The country is now 1st in the category ease of paying taxes and 4th in trading across borders. In addition, the UAE ranks 5th in dealing with construction permits. To start a business in the country, you will only need 8 days and 6 procedures.
Here are the top 10 entries in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rank:
- Singapore
- Hong Kong, SAR, China
- New Zealand
- United States
- Denmark
- Malaysia
- South Korea
- Georgia
- Norway
- United Kingdom
- 23. United Arab Emirates
The report states that over the past twelve months, business reforms in world have increased by 18%. Their number was estimated at 238 regulatory reforms. Also, the World Bank states that if all economies follow the best regulatory practices for starting a business, they would be able to save entrepreneurs about 45 million days… every year.
