WASHINGTON: A record 137 economies around the world have adopted key reforms that make it easier to start and operate small and medium-sized businesses, says Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All; the World Bank Group’s annual report on the ease of doing business.
The world’s top 10 improvers, based on reforms undertaken, are Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Belarus, Indonesia, Serbia, Georgia; Pakistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain.
In South Asia, five of the region’s eight economies implemented a total of 11 reforms in the past year, compared with nine the previous year.
Pakistan, among the world’s top 10 improvers, implemented several reforms this past year, as did India and Sri Lanka. The bulk of the business reform activity in the region was aimed at facilitating cross-border trade. However, Afghanistan and Pakistan, stipulate additional hurdles for women entrepreneurs.
The new report finds that developing countries carried out more than 75 per cent of the 283 reforms in the past year, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for over one-quarter of all reforms.
In its global country rankings of business efficiency, Doing Business 2017 awarded its coveted top spot to New Zealand, Singapore ranked second, followed by Denmark, Hong Kong SAR, China, Republic of Korea, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Sweden; and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The report cites research that demonstrates that better performance in doing business is, on average, associated with lower levels of income inequality, thereby reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
“Simple rules that are easy to follow are a sign that a government treats its citizens with respect. They yield direct economic benefits – more entrepreneurship, more market opportunities for women, and more adherence to the rule of law,” said Paul Romer, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President.
“But we should also remember that being treated with respect is something that people value for its own sake and that a government that fails to treat its citizens this way will lose its ability to lead.”
East Asia and the Pacific is home to two of the world’s top 10 ranked economies, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR, China, and two of the top 10 improvers, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia.
The pace of reforms picked up significantly in the past year, with the region’s economies implementing a total of 45 reforms to improve the ease of doing business.
The Europe and Central Asia region was also a major reformer during the past year, with Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Serbia amongst the world’s top 10 improvers.
Europe and Central Asia has consistently been the region with the highest average number of reforms per economy and is now close to having the same good practices in place as the OECD high-income economies.