São Paulo – The World Bank reported that 137 out of 190 economies surveyed carried out some type of reform to improve business environment last year, a record-breaking number. The data is part of the report Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, made public this Tuesday (25) by the organization.
In all, 283 reforms were implemented in these countries, 75% of them in developing nations, the highlight being Sub-Saharan Africa, with over one quarter of them all.
New Zealand leads the ranking of business efficiency drawn up by the World Bank, followed by Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Sweden and Macedonia.
The most improved nations in implementing business reforms were Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Belarus, Indonesia, Serbia, Georgia, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
According to the World Bank, the survey looks at reforms that make it easier to start and operate small and medium-sized businesses. “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, more adherence to the rule of law,” said Paul Romer, World Bank chief economist and senior vice-president.
IBRD (World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) highlights that Latin America and the Caribbean “increased considerably” the number of reforms with 32 measures adopted in 2015 by two thirds of the region’s countries.
“In the past year, business reforms in the region focused on the areas of starting a business, paying taxes and trading across borders,” Augusto Lopez Claros, director of the World Bank’s Global Indicators Group in a statement.
Brazil
Brazil implemented three reforms to facilitate the ease of doing business, the highest number among Latin Americans. The bank mentions as an example the adoption of an electronic system for importing goods that streamlined processing times. This, however, wasn’t enough to make the country go up in the ranking. On the contrary, it appears at the 123rd position against the 121st position in the previous ranking, which means that despite the improvements, other nations have done better.
The best-placed countries in the region are Colombia, at 53rd place, and Peru, at 54th. Argentina appears at the 116th position. Venezuela (187th), Haiti (181st) and Suriname (158th) are the worst-ranked.
Arabs
Middle East and North Africa countries adopted the highest number of reforms to facilitate the ease of doing business since 2009, with 35 measures implemented by 15 out of 20 economies surveyed.
The UAE leads the region at the 26th position in the global ranking. In the previous report, the country stood at 34th. Bahrain shows up in second place in the region at the 63rd position in the global list. Before, it held the 66th position.
“The acceleration of business reform activity in the Middle East and North Africa is noteworthy, considering the severity of challenges faced by many governments in the region,” said Rita Ramalho, manager of the Doing Business project.
Other Arab countries that improved their positions in the ranking were Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. However, the report highlights that the region had a weak performance regarding gender measures, with 70% of regional economies imposing more regulatory hurdles for women entrepreneurs than for their men counterparts.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
