Pristina, October 29, 2014—A new report by the World Bank Group, Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, shows that, in the past year, Kosovo has further improved the regulatory environment for entrepreneurs, adding to the gains recorded in the last two years.
In particular, Kosovo has made dealing with construction permits easier, by establishing a new phased inspection scheme and substantially reducing the building permit fee. It also made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a private bailiff system. However, Kosovo has made transferring property more difficult by increasing the fee for the registration of property transactions.
“New businesses have been registered at an accelerating rate in Kosovo, in itself a clear reflection of the efforts placed on the investment climate agenda of recent years,” said Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank Manager for Kosovo. “However, in the current period of political stalemate, it is now critically important to take the momentum of the trend improvement in the regulatory environment and have being incorporated into a comprehensive economic model aimed at enticing businesses to invest and, in so doing, generating more dynamic rates of sustainable and inclusive growth.”
Among 189 countries surveyed, Kosovo’s relative standing in the ease of Doing Business has increased to the 75th rank, representing an improvement compared to the Doing Business 2014, where the back-calculated position has been 81st.
Challenges persist even as the regulatory framework for entrepreneurs continues to improve, emphasizing the need for further regulatory reforms. This is particularly the case in areas such as resolving insolvency, enforcing contracts, issuing construction permits, getting electricity, and trading across borders—all areas, in which Kosovo is in the bottom half of the global ranking.
The change in methodology this year reflects the expansion of the data for three of the ten topics covered, and there are plans to add five more topics next year. In addition, the ease of doing business ranking is now based on the distance to frontier score. This measure shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation. A higher score indicates a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions.
Kosovo’s Doing Business 2015 distance to frontier score is 64.8, while the Doing Business 2014 back-calculated distance to frontier score was 63.0.
The report finds that Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand; Hong Kong SAR, China; Denmark; the Republic of Korea; Norway; the United States; the United Kingdom; Finland; and Australia.
About the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group plays a key role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. It consists of five institutions: the World Bank, including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA); the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Working together in more than 100 countries, these institutions provide financing, advice, and other solutions that enable countries to address the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and www.ifc.org.
