WORLD BANK REPORT RANKS ARMENIA AHEAD OF CIS COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF
EASE-OF-DOING-BUSINESS INDEX

Armenpress

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS: According to a new report,
“Doing Business in 2006: CIS Economies Pick up the Pace of Reform,”
issued by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation on
September 12, the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) are increasing the pace of reform to help small and medium
businesses generate more jobs-with Georgia among the top global
reformers.

But it also said that reformers in the region lag behind their Eastern
European neighbors, and heavy legal burdens on business remain in
most countries. Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs, cosponsored
by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the
private sector arm of the World Bank Group, finds that such reforms,
while often simple, can create many new jobs.

“Jobs are a priority for every country, and especially the poorest
countries. Doing more to improve regulation and help entrepreneurs
is key to creating more jobs–and more growth. It is also a key to
fighting poverty.

Women, who make up three quarters of the work force in some developing
economies, will be big beneficiaries. So will young people looking
for their first job. The past year’s diverse range of successful
reformers – from Serbia to Rwanda – are showing the way forward. We
can all learn from their experience,” said Paul Wolfowitz, President
of the World Bank Group.

The annual report, which for the first time provides a global ranking
of 155 economies on key business regulations and reforms, finds that
every country in the CIS improved at least one aspect of the business
environment-among the highest rate of reform of any region. But the
pace of reform is slower than with the new entrants to the European
Union, which are aggressively courting entrepreneurs with far-reaching
reforms that streamline business regulations and taxes.

With regard to Armenia, it says the government introduced case
management into courts, streamlining contract enforcement, increased
the flexibility of employment law and established public credit
registries. Overall, European nations were the most active in enacting
reforms. The top 12 reformers in the past year, in order, were Serbia
and Montenegro, Georgia, Vietnam, Slovakia, Germany, Egypt, Finland,
Romania, Latvia, Pakistan, Rwanda, and the Netherlands.

In the list of world economies in terms of the report’s
ease-of-doing-business index, Armenia ranked at 46, Russia at 79,
Moldova at 83, Kyrgyz Republic at 84, Kazakhstan at 86, Azerbaijan
at 98, Georgia at 100, Belarus at 106, Ukraine at 124, and Uzbekistan
at 138.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress