Hanoi, October 23, 2012 — A new IFC and World Bank report finds that between June 2011 and June 2012, Vietnam improved its business enabling environment through a regulatory reform that makes it easier for local firms to start a business. Across the globe, Singapore continues to provide the world’s most business-friendly regulatory environments for local entrepreneurs. The Republic of Korea is among the top 20 in the global ranking on the ease of doing business and Mongolia is the region’s top improver for the year in this year’s Doing Business report.
Released today, Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises finds that Vietnam has implemented a total of 18 institutional or regulatory reforms, in 8 of 10 areas of business regulation measured by the annual Doing Business report over the past eight years. The most recent reform made starting a business easier by allowing Vietnamese companies to use self-printed value added tax invoices.
“Helping Vietnam to improve its competitiveness is one of the World Bank Group’s priorities in Vietnam,” said Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. ”Vietnam has implemented various reforms over the years to improve the business environment. However, the report findings also imply that more needs to be done to bring Vietnam to the level of other economies in the region.”
According to the report, other countries in the region have improved their business environments more rigorously than Vietnam.
The report finds that 23 economies in East Asia and the Pacific have made their regulatory environment more business-friendly since 2005. During that time, China made the greatest progress in improving business regulations for local entrepreneurs. The report finds that 11 of 24 economies in East Asia and the Pacific improved business regulations in the past year.
The Doing Business 2013 report, which covers the period from June 2011 to June 2012 and which uses data for indicators that measure regulation affecting 10 key areas of the life cycle of local businesses, finds that Mongolia eliminated the minimum capital requirement for establishing a local limited liability company, guaranteed the right of borrowers to inspect their own credit data, and enacted new legislation to strengthen disclosure requirements for related-party transactions.
“This year, Mongolia joined the global list of top 10 improvers for ease of doing business in the report,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “Mongolia implemented reforms that cut regulatory hurdles and make it easier for local firms to do business. The Republic of Korea, already among the top 20, continued to make it easier for enterprises to do business through regulatory reforms in four areas.”
Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business for the seventh consecutive year, while Hong Kong SAR, China, holds onto the second spot. Joining them on the list of the 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulations are, in this order: New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Norway; the United Kingdom; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; and Australia.
About the Doing Business report series
Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and protecting investors. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on 10 indicators and cover 185 economies. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills in the labor force, or the resilience of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates worldwide and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies. This year’s report marks the 10th edition of the global Doing Business report series. For more information about the Doing Business report series, please visit www.doingbusiness.org. Join us on Facebook.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and www.ifc.org.
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