Uzbekistan improved its position in new ranking of Doing Business 2016 of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, moving from the 103rd place in 2014 to 87th place in 2015.
It is worth to mention that in Doing Business 2015, Uzbekistan was on 141st place, but the country moved to 103rd place in the result of review of methodology.
Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency finds that 85 developing economies implemented 169 business reforms during the past year, compared with 154 reforms the previous year. High-income economies carried out an additional 62 reforms, bringing the total for the past year to 231 reforms in 122 economies around the world.
The majority of the new reforms during the past year were designed to improve the efficiency of regulations, by reducing their cost and complexity, with the largest number of improvements made in the area of Starting a Business, which measures how long it takes to obtain a permit for starting a business and its associated processing costs. A total of 45 economies, 33 of which were developing economies, undertook reforms to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business. India, for example, made significant improvements by eliminating the minimum capital requirement and a business operations certificate, saving entrepreneurs an unnecessary procedure and five days’ wait time. Kenya also made business incorporation easier by simplifying pre-registration procedures, reducing the time to incorporate by four days.
Efforts to strengthen legal institutions and frameworks were less common, with 66 reforms implemented in 53 economies during the past year. The largest number of such reforms was carried out in the area of Getting Credit, with 32 improvements, of which nearly half were undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the report, Uzbekistan improved its position in such criteria as starting a business (42nd place, +22 positions), registering property (87th place, +26 positions), getting credit (42nd place, +63 positions) and paying taxes (115th place, +2 positions). At the same time, position of Uzbekistan worsened in such criteria as dealing with construction permits (151st place, -2 positions), getting electricity (112th place, -4 positions), protecting minority investors (88th place, -1 position) and trading across borders (159th place, -1 position).
The report added that five procedures required in Uzbekistan to register enterprise, which is higher than average in the Europe and Central Asia (4.7) and OECD member states (4.7). The registration term is 6.5 days in Uzbekistan against 10 days in Europe and Central Asia and 8.3 days in the OECD countries.
In the global ranking stakes, Singapore retains its top spot. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand, in second place; Denmark (3); Republic of Korea (4); Hong Kong SAR, China (5); United Kingdom (6); United States (7); Sweden (8); Norway (9); and Finland (10).