Russia Jumps Up 20 Spots in ‘Doing Business’ Rankings

MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia's business climate has made notable strides over the past year, climbing up 20 positions in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings from 112th place.
The World Bank Group's Doing Business 2014 report, which was launched in Thailand on Tuesday, presents business data for 189 economies and includes information from Libya, Myanmar and South Sudan for the first time.
The authors of the report said Russia was third among 10 countries that showed the best results in liberalizing their economies last year, trailing Ukraine and Rwanda.
In comparison, Russia climbed only eight spots in rankings in 2012, from 120th to 112th.
World Bank experts praised Russia in particular for achievements in five areas – ease of opening of new businesses, simplified application process for construction projects, simplified registration of property rights, prompt connectivity to the electricity grid and improvement in global trade procedures.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the government in early 2012 to improve the business climate with a view to pushing Russia to 50th position in the Doing Business rankings by 2015 and 20th in 2018.
The government has so far adopted nine road maps encompassing a total of 520 measures to that end. Four more road maps are expected for completion by the end of this year.
But some Russian experts believe that the government could have done much better in implementation of existing road maps and could have improved the country’s Doing Business rankings even more than they have done.
According to Strategic Initiatives Agency estimates, less than half the road maps have been implemented.
The Doing Business report measures the efficiency and strength of laws, regulations and institutions relevant to domestic small and medium-sized companies throughout their life cycle to rank the world's best places to run a business.