BUCHAREST, April 7, 2016 - The World Bank Group, together with the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, today commenced a study that will assess the Romanian business regulatory environment and its impact on local entrepreneurs in 9 cities across the country. The subnational study builds on the World Bank Group’s annual flagship Doing Business report and will examine the experience of selected cities with a focus on small to midsize domestic firms.
The project, funded by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, will include five other European Union member states - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, and Slovakia. The study will benchmark five regulatory areas that are governed by local jurisdiction and/or local implementation of national regulations. These areas are: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, and enforcing contracts.
In each of these areas, the report - set to be released in Spring 2017 - will identify existing good practices in Bucharest and 8 other Romanian cities - Brasov, Constanta, Cluj Napoca, Craiova, Iasi, Oradea, Ploiesti and Timisoara. The analysis will recommend reforms based on examples from Romania and 188 other economies, measured by the global Doing Business report. The results will support all levels of government in their reform processes to improve the ease of doing business across Romania.
“The nine selected Romanian cities have varied experiences when it comes to improving the business environment for local entrepreneurs. Extracting best practices from one urban setting to inform policy decisions in another urban setting can help propagate the best existing solutions and raise the bar across Romania in terms of what it takes to be a better city for small and medium businesses. This important exercise can also inform national-level debates and efforts to incorporate the most successful solutions into national policies to support an improved business environment” said Elisabetta Capannelli, World Bank Manager for Romania and Hungary.
The Subnational and Regional Doing Business reports capture differences in business regulations and their enforcement across locations in a single country or region. The reports provide data on the ease of doing business in selected areas, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve the business climate at the local level in each area. Since 2005, the World Bank Group’s subnational Doing Business projects have benchmarked 437 cities in 65 countries.
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About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group plays a key role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. It consists of five institutions: the World Bank, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Working together in more than 100 countries, these institutions provide financing, advice, and other solutions that enable countries to address the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and ifc.org.
