Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 29, 2013—
A new World Bank Group report says Sri Lanka leads the South Asian region in implementing business reforms over the past year. It is also ranked first in the region for ease of doing business, followed closely by the Maldives and Nepal.
Sri Lanka is the top improver in the region since 2009, and this year has a rank of 85 out of 189 economies. Overall, Sri Lanka’s position declines four places on the global ranking list for ease of doing business due to improvements in other countries and adjustments in the global data.
Released today,
Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises
says Sri Lanka implemented four regulatory reforms over the past year that made it easier for local entrepreneurs to do business.
Sri Lanka made it easier to get construction permits by eliminating the need to obtain tax clearances and by reducing building permit fees. Getting new electrical connections was made easier by improving the utility’s internal workflow and reducing time required to process new applications. Sri Lanka made it easier for companies to pay taxes by introducing an electronic filing system for social security contributions. Finally, trading across borders became more efficient due to a newly introduced electronic payment system for port services.
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 regulations are Hong Kong SAR, China, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Georgia, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to the global rankings, every year
Doing Business
reports the economies that have improved the most on the indicators since the previous year. The 10 economies topping that list this year are (in order of improvement) Ukraine, Rwanda, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Kosovo, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Guatemala. Yet challenges persist: five of this year’s top improvers—Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, the Philippines, and Ukraine—are still in the bottom half of the global ranking on the ease of doing business.
About the
Doing Business
report series
The joint World Bank and IFC 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 10 indicators 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. This year’s report marks the 11
th
edition of the global
Doing Business
report series and covers 189 economies. For more information about the
Doing Business
reports, please visit
www.doingbusiness.org
and join us on doingbusiness.org/Facebook.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world. For more information, please visit
www.worldbank.org
,
www.miga.org
, and
www.ifc.org
.
Regional Media Contacts:
South Asia
Minakshi Seth +91 (11) 4111-1058 Gabriela Aguilar+1 (202) 473-6768
E-mail: mseth@ifc.org E-mail: gaguilar2@worldbank.org
