Doing Business 2009Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Presented by

Sylvia Solf

Top Reformers in 2007/2008

Eastern Europe and Central Asia reformed the most …

93%

63% 63%61%

50% 50% 50%

E. Europe &Central Asia

East Asia &Pacific

Middle East &N. Africa

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Latin America& Caribbean

OECD South Asia

Countries with at least one positive reform in 2007/2008 (%)

Highlights of Doing Business 2009

• 239 reforms in 113 countries. Highest recorded in 6 years of Doing Business

• Eastern Europe and Central Asia – 62 reforms in 23 of the 25 countries, 25% of the total recorded worldwide. Fastest reforming region.

– 4 of top 10 reformers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Top reformers by indicator

Top 30 on the ease of doing business, 2009

1. Singapore 16. Saudi Arabia

2. New Zealand 17. Sweden

3. United States 18. Bahrain

4. Hong Kong, China 19. Belgium

5. Denmark 20. Malaysia

6. United Kingdom 21. Switzerland

7. Ireland 22. Estonia

8. Canada 23. Korea

9. Australia 24. Mauritius

10. Norway 25. Germany

11. Iceland 26. Netherlands

12. Japan 27. Austria

13. Thailand 28. Lithuania

14. Finland 29. Latvia

15. Georgia 30. Israel

Eastern Europe Ranking on Ease of Doing Business

119

106

103

94

90

86

76

71

54

47

45

29

28

22

1

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia

Moldova

Serbia

Montenegro

Albania

Poland

Macedonia, FYR

Slovenia

Romania

Bulgaria

Latvia

Lithuania

Estonia

Singapore Top rank - Global

76

75

54

47

45

41

36

29

28

22

Poland

Czech Republic

Slovenia

Romania

Bulgaria

Hungary

Slovakia

Latvia

Lithuania

Estonia

Bulgaria and Romania compared to new EU countries

Reforms in Bulgaria

Passed two new laws- the Civil Procedure Code and the Law for the Commercial Registry- which will speed the resolution of bankruptcy.

Made business start-up easier by creating a central electronic database for commercial registration.

Amendments to the civil procedural code have helped speed contract enforcement.

Introduced a new Corporate Income Tax Act and a new Value Added Tax Act to synchronize local tax legislation with EU legislation.

Dealing with construction permits has become more difficult. The fees for obtaining construction permits were increased by about 16 percent in 2008. Stricter environmental requirements mean that companies in Sofia now have to obtain a certificate of energy efficiency before and after construction. This adds 2 steps and 8 days for dealing with construction permits

Reforms in Croatia

A new building code came into force in October 2007 and made it easier to deal with construction permits by eliminating five procedures.

Even so, the reform led to an administrative backlog for building and occupancy permits, increasing the overall time required by 20 days.

Ongoing improvements to port infrastructure sped terminal handling for exports by two days.

Reforms in Moldova

Passed a new law facilitating the creation of a private credit bureau.

New laws on limited liability companies and company registration sped business registration by introducing statutory time limits. The time required to file an application with the State Registration Chamber fell from 15 days to 7, reducing the total time to start a company from 23 days to 15.

Reforms in Romania

Simplified the enforcement of judgments by eliminating the need for a separate enforcement order and allowing the attachment of credit balances and accounts receivable. The reform reduced the time to enforce contracts by a month from 537 days to 512 days.

171 170 167 163158

152

137

117

88

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Serbia Albania Montenegro Croatia Moldova Macedonia,FYR

Bosnia &Herzegovina

Bulgaria Romania

Dealing with construction permits in the region: cumbersomeTop 5 Best Practices

-Establish a one-stop shop (Italy)

-Adopt a differentiated permitting approach (Korea)

-Introduce statutory time limits combined with “silence-is-consent" rules (France)

-Introduce risk-based inspections (Sweden)

-Digitalize zoning maps and cadastral records

Average = 148

Why does it matter? Here is a reason…

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