Doing Business In Eastern Europe

World Bank/IFC writes:

Doing business became easier in Eastern European countries in 2005-2006, according to a new report by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Thirty-eight reforms in 16 economies in the region reduced the time, cost, and hassle for businesses to comply with legal and administrative requirements.

Spurred by recent or prospective accession to the European Union, Eastern Europe reformed more than any other region, including Western Europe and other OECD countries.Romania is top reformer in the regionDoing Business 2007: How to Reform finds that Romania was the second most active reformer on the ease of doing business across 175 economies, implementing reforms to simplify business licensing and trading, easing access to credit, increasing labor market flexibility, and strengthening investor protection. Croatia was ranked seventh. The top 10 reformers are, in order, Georgia, Romania, Mexico, China, Peru, France, Croatia, Guatemala, Ghana, and Tanzania.

Doing Business 2007 also ranks 175 economies on the ease of doing business-covering 20 more economies than last year's report. The top-ranked countries in Eastern Europe are Lithuania (16), Estonia (17), and Latvia (24), followed by Slovakia (36) and Romania (47).

The 30 economies that score the highest on the ease of doing business are, in order, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong (China), the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Norway, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Israel, St. Lucia, Chile, South Africa, and Austria.

The rankings track indicators of the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure. They do not track variables such as market size, macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.

Romania -- the top reformer in the region and second-ranked globally -- simplified procedures for obtaining building permits and set up a single office for processing applications. This reduced the time for obtaining construction licenses by 49 days. Reforms to labor laws allowed term contracts to extend to six years, encouraging businesses to hire first-time workers. New customs procedures cut the time to satisfy regulatory requirements for trading in half, to 14 days. Romania also broadened the scope of information available for potential borrowers and sped bankruptcy proceedings.

More info @ http://web.worldbank.org