The World Bank and IFC Republic of Macedonia new report for fourth time ranks Macedonia among the top ten economies in the world where is improved business and regulatory environment in the period from June last year to June this year, implementing six regulatory reforms that facilitated doing business of local entrepreneurs.
World Bank Office in Skopje said that Macedonia facilitated obtaining electricity by reducing the time required for getting a new connection and by establishing a fixed fee per kilowatt for connection ports that require power up to 400 kW. It also strengthened its secured transactions system by providing greater flexibility in the description of the assets in the collateral agreement and the types of debts and obligations that may be provided. Investors’ protection is enhanced by allowing shareholders to seek annihilation of unfair transactions between related parties and appointing auditors to examine the alleged irregularities in the company.
According to the Doing Business report, Macedonia is one of the five economies mostly closed the gap with international good practices since 2005. Certainly, in the areas of starting a business and getting credit, it is ranked among the top ten economies in the world. However, there are challenges, particularly in the areas of contract enforcement, border trade and property registration, where is ranked at 95th, 89th and 84th place out of 189 economies.
- Once again, the Republic of Macedonia has proven to be a leader in the region in improving the business environment, measured by Doing Business report, says Tatiana Proskurjakova, the director of the World Bank Office in Skopje.
Macedonia is the best in SEE and the first in the region before Croatia and Slovenia.
These achievements, she point out, can complement the efforts of government and private sector in mitigating the consequences of crisis in the euro-zone and address the low employment rates. At the same time, challenges remain. The Government of Republic of Macedonia and the World Bank are working together to further improve the infrastructure, skills of workers and the overall competitiveness of the country, said Proskurjakova.
Singapore is at the first place in the world rankings in relation to the ease of doing business. At the list of top 10 economies with the best regulations for conducting business are Hong Kong, South African Republic, China, New Zealand, U.S., Denmark, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Georgia, Norway and the United Kingdom.
Besides global ranking, Doing Business highlights the major economies that have achieved improvements in indicators for the previous year. Ten economies are at the top of the list this year, according to the improvements, the Ukraine, Rwanda, Russia, the Philippines, Kosovo, Djibouti, Côte d’ Ivoire, Burundi, the Republic of Macedonia and Guatemala. However, challenges survive: five of the countries that have achieved the best improvement this year – Burundi, Côte d’ Ivoire, the Philippines and Ukraine, are still found in the lower half of the global ranking for ease of doing business.
At the joint report by leading World Bank and IFC are analyzed relationships related to businesses in the economy during their life cycle, including the starting and operation, cross-border trade, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. Aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business is based on 10 indicators and cover 189 economies.
Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to companies and investors. For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills of the workforce and resilience of financial systems. The findings are stimulating policy debates worldwide and enable broader explorations on how regulations at the company level relate to economic outcomes in the economies. This year’s report is the 11th edition of the World Report Doing Business and covers 189 economies.
