Astana, November 16, 2010— The World Bank presented the main findings of the Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs for Kazakhstan at the Doing Business 2011 Conference in Astana. According to the report, over the past year Kazakhstan was the top reformer in improving the ease of doing business for entrepreneurs. As a result, the country also moved up 15 places in the rankings on improving the business environment—to 59th place among the 183 economies examined.
Kazakhstan improved conditions for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, protecting investors, and trading across borders.
During the last two years the World Bank has supported the Government of Kazakhstan in improving the business environment within the framework of the Joint Economic Research Program. The Government Working Groups have worked on eight key elements of the Doing Business reforms to reduce the barriers faced by entrepreneurs in conducting their activities.
“The World Bank congratulates the Government of Kazakhstan for the recognition it has received for the efforts to improve the business environment for entrepreneurs over the past few years,” said Motoo Konishi, the World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia. “The Government of Kazakhstan recognizes that this is a continuous endeavor and that there is still work to be done, with number of reforms are already in the process of being introduced to deepen changes in procedures.”
Notable reforms contributing to Kazakhstan’s improved ranking include, reducing the minimum capital requirement to start a business to100 tenge ($0.70), and eliminating the requirement to have the memorandum of association and company charter of new companies notarized. The Government also strengthened investor protection by requiring greater corporate disclosure in company annual reports. There were some improvements noted in dealing with construction permits and trade across borders, however they were not enough to improve the country’s rankings in those indicators and therefore it will be the focus of future reforms.
About the Doing Business report series
Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates in more than 80 economies and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies. Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs is the eighth in a series of annual reports published by IFC and the World Bank.
For more information about the Doing Business report series, please visit www.doingbusiness.org
