Washington, D.C., October 29, 2014—A new World Bank Group report finds that in the past year, the Russian Federation made it easier for local entrepreneurs to do business by implementing regulatory reforms in the areas of starting a business and registering property.
Released today, Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency finds that in the past year, the Russian Federation made it easier for entrepreneurs to open a new business by eliminating the requirement to deposit the charter capital before company registration as well as the requirement to notify tax authorities of the opening of a bank account. In addition, the country made transferring property easier by eliminating the requirement for notarization and introducing tighter time limits for completing the property registration. Such efforts have contributed to making Europe and Central Asia the second most business-friendly region after high-income economies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The Russian Federation ranks among the top 20 economies globally on two indicators: the ease of registering property and the ease of enforcing contracts. Obstacles remain in some areas measured by the report, however: entrepreneurs seeking to obtain an electricity connection or to import or export goods face considerable delays compared with global averages.
“The business regulatory environment requires strong and sustained actions across all areas covered by the report as well as those not directly measured,” said Michal Rutkowski, World Bank Country Director for the Russian Federation . “It is encouraging that the Russian Federation continues its upward trajectory in improving the investment climate thanks to the implementation of regulatory reforms; however, a broader approach should be taken in the coming years to ease the burden for local entrepreneurs.”
This year, for the first time, Doing Business collected data for a second city in economies with a population of more than 100 million. In the Russian Federation, the report now analyzes business regulations in St. Petersburg as well as Moscow. The data show that regulatory quality and efficiency are comparable in the two cities, with Moscow and St. Petersburg sharing similar laws and similar times, costs, and procedures for regulatory processes across the areas measured by the report.
The report this year expands the data for three of the 10 topics covered, and there are plans to do so for five more topics next year. In addition, the ease of doing business ranking is now based on the distance to frontier score. This measure shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation. A higher score indicates a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions.
The report finds that Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand; Hong Kong SAR, China; Denmark; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the United States; the United Kingdom; Finland; and Australia.
About the Doing Business report series
The annual World Bank Group flagship Doing Business report analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on the distance to frontier scores for 10 topics and cover 189 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. Each year the report team works to improve the methodology and to enhance their data collection, analysis and output. The project has benefited from feedback from many stakeholders over the years. With a key goal to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the local regulatory environment for business around the world, the project goes through rigorous reviews to ensure its quality and effectiveness. This year’s report marks the 12th edition of the global Doing Business report series. For more information about the Doing Business reports, please visit doingbusiness.org and join us on doingbusiness.org/Facebook.
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 www.ifc.org.
