Azerbaijan ranks 54th on doing business
BAKU – Azerbaijan ranks 54th among 183 countries on the ease of doing business, according to an annual report by the World Bank.
The country has been granted divergent rankings in the WB’s Doing Business reports in the past four years. It initially ranked 96th, then leaped to the 33rd spot, and further backtracked to the 55th ranking.
The rankings are based on nine main indicators - business start-up and closure, international trade, construction permits, the ease of receiving loans, property rights, protection of investment, taxation, and the enforcement of contracts.
According to the report, Azerbaijan efficiently held reforms in 2009-2010 in receiving loans and tax payments. Azerbaijan improved access to loans, created an online platform - state credit registry, and allowed financial institutions to provide and receive data about loans. In addition, changes to the tax code helped to reduce some rates, including rates on income tax, and also simplified the process of paying corporate income tax and VAT.
Azerbaijan ranked 10th on the low cost of property registration, in contrast to Syria, where businessmen have to pay a fee worth up to 27 percent of the property value to have it registered.
Azerbaijani courts are among top ten in the world on the short term of business litigations. Such proceedings take an average of 237 days in the country. Singapore, where courts settle business litigations over 150 days, topped the rankings.
According to the report, Azerbaijan ranked 20th in terms of protecting investors.
Azerbaijan was rated second on the large number of documents required for imports. 14 documents are necessary in the country, while the Central African Republic requires the most papers – 17. In France, on the contrary, importers have to provide only two documents, the least in the world, the Doing Business 2011 study said.
France also offers the best conditions to exporters, who have to submit only two documents.
As for the issuance of construction permits, Azerbaijan ranked 10th, with 31 procedures required.
Denmark led the way on the ease of receiving construction permits, with only six procedures needed.
Singapore remains the best country in which to run a business, according to the report.
Kazakhstan showed the most improvement over the past year.
Georgia has seen the biggest improvement over the past five years.
Malaysia was the leader on the ease of receiving loans, followed by Hong Kong.
New Zealand surpassed all other countries on investor protection and the ease of business start-up.
Businessmen in New Zealand also spend the shortest time to begin doing business after business start-up - only one day on average. At the bottom of the list is Surinam, where it takes 694 days to start entrepreneurial activity.
Businesses in Timor pay only 0.2 percent in taxes, the least in the world