Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan ranked 66th among 183 countries on the ease of doing business in an annual report by the World Bank, an improvement of three points compared to the previous rankings.

Singapore topped the rankings, while Chad is the hardest country for entrepreneurship, says the Doing Business 2012 report.

The rankings build on the ease of business start-up, getting loans, registering property, getting electricity, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, and obtaining construction permits.

Azerbaijan was among leaders on the ease of registering property, ranking 9th.

The WB also rated Azerbaijan high on business start-up – 18th in the world.

However, the South Caucasus republic was rated 172nd on the issuance of construction permits. 30 procedures which take 212 days are required to begin construction work in the country.

The biggest challenge in doing business in Azerbaijan is getting electricity. Nine permits are required for the purpose, which takes 241 days. Azerbaijan ranked 173rd.

The country was rated 170th on cross-border trade, i.e. imports and exports. 10 documents are required to deliver goods and 8 documents to export them. Imports of goods take 42 days and exports take 38 days, the report said.

For comparison’s sake, it takes 4 days to import commodities to Singapore and 5 days to export them from the country.

Azerbaijan ranked 95th on business litigations which last 2.7 years on average. In Singapore, for instance, they take only 10 months.

It was rated 81st on paying taxes, 48th on getting credit and 24th on protecting investors.

Neighboring states
Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbor with which it faces long-standing conflict, advanced six points in the WB rankings to 55th.

Georgia, another South Caucasus country, is among the best countries for doing business, ranking 16th.

Armenia was included in the list of countries which have improved their standing in the past year on five of the ten indicators considered in the report - the ease of business start-up, obtaining construction permits, access to loans, paying taxes, and business litigations.

An average of 79 days are needed to obtain a construction permit in Armenia.

In Georgia, it takes 74 days.

Getting loans is also easy in Georgia, which ranked 8th in the world on this indicator. As for imports and exports, such transactions require only 4 documents. It takes 13 days to import goods to the country and 10 days to export them, according to Doing Business 2012.