The state of business conditions in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia is lagging just behind developed economies in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), notes a report by the World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) released on Tuesday, showing that Croatia has dropped by four places.
The report "Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises" notes that almost 400 institutional or regulatory reforms were conducted in Eastern Europe and Central Asia since 2005 which is more than in any other region in the world.
Poland was top riser in ease of doing business according to the report.
It is encouraging to see the rapid tempo in implementing reforms in Easter European and Central Asia. Many of these reforms have been conducted in the context of accession negotiations with the European Union. Governments have made important strides to improve their business regulatory environment and to narrow the gap with global best practice, said the Director of Global Indicators and Analysis with the World Bank Group, Augusto Lopez-Claros.
In the latest WB and IFC report, Croatia ranked 84th of a total of 185 economies in the world. Last year it was ranked 80th of 183 economies. The report states that Croatia made paying taxes less costly by reducing health insurance contributions.
The Doing Business report analyses the most friendly business regulations applied to businesses during their life cycle, encompassing 10 business regulations, such as the time to start a business, time to obtain electricity connections, meeting contractual obligations, cross-border trading, average time to transfer property, simplifying tax compliance and investment protection.
