By DPA,
Washington : Azerbaijan made more pro-business reforms than any other country over the last year, while Singapore remains the best place in the world to run a business, the World Bank said Wednesday.
Azerbaijan helped Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia make more progress than any other region – more than 90 percent of countries made improvements that made it easier to run a business.
Africa was another bright spot, implementing the most regulatory reforms since the World Bank’s Doing Business survey began six years ago.
Mauritania became the first African country to break into the top 25 in the survey’s global ranking, while three countries – Senegal, Burkina Faso and Bostwana – were rated among the top 10 reformers of the year.
Co-author Sabine Hertveldt said the quickening pace of reform on the continent was allowing neighbours to take “inspiration” from each other on how to make running a business easier.
Singapore was the best place to do business for the third year running, followed by New Zealand and the US.
Among emerging economies, China led the way by improving access to credit, streamlining the tax code and enforcing contracts, but the world’s most populous nation still ranks only 83rd in the World Bank survey.
Azerbaijan jumped from 97th to 33rd in the ranking, making improvements in seven of the 10 gauges used to measure reforms, including cutting hurdles to start a business, better enforcing contracts and strengthening investor protections.
Among the other top 10 economic reformers of the year were Albania, the Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Egypt.
Colombia led all Latin American economies in pro-business reforms, rising 13 spots to 53rd.
All told, 113 of 181 countries took pro-business steps from June 2007 to June 2008.