Economy Ministry promises to improve position of Armenia in WB "Doing Business" ranking

ArmInfo. Armenia may improve its position in the "Doing Business" ranking of the World Bank and raise its indicators by 10 points, Armenia's acting Economy Minister Artsvik Minasyan told journalists today.

According to him during 2016 38 events were held out of the scheduled 39. Minasyan stated that in case the ministry's forecasts on social economic development of the country come true and the current conditions partner countries remain the same, Armenia may register significant progress in WB ranking.

According to the acting Minister the held events were mainly aimed at reducing time necessary for administrative procedures in state agencies, activating e-system of accountability and management, as well easing tax burden for business.

To recall, in the WB Doing Business 2016 report, Armenia has taken the 35th position out of 189 countries.  The country neighbors with Japan (34th place) and the Czech Republic (36th place) in the report.  As compared with the previous report, Armenia has improved its indicators by 3 positions.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business:  starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year's ranking. This year's Doing Business report continues a two-year process of introducing improvements in 8 of 10 Doing Business indicator sets-to complement the emphasis on the efficiency of regulation with a greater focus on its quality.

Armenia has improved 3 out of 10 indicators assessing the easiness of doing business:  Dealing with Construction Permits (by 10 points), Enforcing Contracts (8 points), Trading Across Borders (29 points).  The last indicator increased from the 58th place in the previous report to the 29th mainly due to the successfully facilitated procedures of documentation (including customs clearance) and affordability of the related payments.