Russia climbed to 31st place in Doing Business-2019 rating

Russia has moved up to the 31st position in the Doing Business-2019 rating, which is annually published the World Bank Group. This is according to the World Bank’s report. Earlier Russia ranked 35th in the rating.

"Russia has once again demonstrated its commitment to improving the business climate for private enterprise," said Andras Horvai, World Bank country director and resident representative for the Russian Federation.

In his May 2012 decrees President Vladimir Putin set the goal for Russia to achieve the 20th position in the Doing Business rating by 2018. In 2012, Russia was on the 120th place in that rating.

The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate scores on 10 topics such as: starting business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency.

This year, Russia managed to enter the Top 100 on all 10 topics: Russia ranked 32nd in starting business, 48th in dealing with construction permits, 12th in getting electricity, 12th in registering property, the 22nd in getting credit, the 57th in protecting minority investors, the 53rd in paying taxes, the 99th in trading across borders, the 18th in enforcing contracts and the 55th in resolving insolvency.
Reforms in Russia

This year, the World Bank took into account four reforms that were carried out in Russia. According to the report, first of all, Russia made the process of obtaining a building permit faster by reducing the time needed to obtain construction and occupancy permits. Russia also increased quality control during construction by introducing risk-based inspections.

The second important reform concerned getting electricity. Russia made getting electricity faster by imposing new deadlines for connection procedures and by upgrading the utility’s single window as well as its internal processes. Getting electricity was also made cheaper by reducing the costs to obtain a connection to the electric network, the report says.

As for paying taxes segment, Russia made paying taxes less costly by allowing a higher tax depreciation rate for fixed assets.

The country made trading across borders easier by prioritizing online customs clearance and introducing shortened time limits for its automated completion, according to the report.
Global Results

The leaders of the rating are New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, which rank first, second and third respectively for the second year in a row.

Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Georgia, Norway, the US, the UK and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are among the ten most attractive economies in terms of doing business.

In the region of Europe and Central Asia, (the region Russia belongs to) 54 reforms were carried out. Azerbaijan held eights reforms which is a record number, as a result it ranks 25th in the rating. Turkey, which for the first time is among the ten countries that achieved the most noticeable results in terms of the number of reforms. It carried out seven reforms and ended up on the 43rd position.