Georgia is a better place for business than ČR

Countries around the world have been simplifying their business environment, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) says in its latest report. The Doing Business 2009 report evaluates how easy it is to do business in 189 countries of the world, and praises the reform steps taken mainly in eastern Europe and central Asia. African countries are doing quite well too.

Most countries with the best business environment can still be found among developed countries. The first three positions were taken by Singapore, New Zealand and the US. Georgia, taking the 15th position, came as a surprise. It easily beat the Czech Republic, which ranked 75th, one place ahead of the neighbouring Poland. Slovakia, on the contrary, took a decent 36th place. Greece, in the 96th place, was the only OECD member country ranking worse than the Czech Republic.

Reforms above all

The report focused mainly on the reform attempts of the monitored countries. The greatest business environment reformers are Azerbaijan, Albania and Kyrgyzstan. World Bank vice-president Penelope Brook says we should not be surprised. „Many smaller developing countries have realised that they must mobilise their domestic sources and create a much better business environment,“ she says. She draws attention to the fact that the complicated global economic environment makes these countries ask whether globalisation really helps…