Ukraine moves up 28 positions in World Bank rating

Experts of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation noted the significant progress of Ukraine in simplifying the business environment, the country moved up 28 positions in annual ranking "Doing Business." The list was published by the World Bank on Oct. 29, 2013.

In last year’s report, Ukraine occupied 137th place among 185 surveyed countries. This year, however, it was the 112th place among 189 participants of the ranking. Annual ranking of business environment investigates the reforms by 10 areas in 189 countries, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

Ukraine achieved the maximum progress in the field of building permits (the country moved from 183rd to 41st position) and registration of ownership (here, Ukraine moved from 197th to 97th position). Ukraine achieved its best result (13th place) for ease of crediting. In this respect, Ukraine was ahead of such developing economy as Brazil.

"I am pleased that we moved up 28 positions in the ranking, and since 2010, Ukraine has made a very big step forward. This indicates that, in spite of all difficulties with reforms, objective evaluation of the World Bank revealed our leadership in the field of regulatory reforms. And this is pleasant," Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

Experts say Ukraine made a substantial progress in simplifying the business environment. The country performed a large-scale streamlining of regulatory authorities, the number of permits was reduced almost by 9 fold (1,200 to 141). These documents are issued by permit centers under a "single window" principle. The number of business activities to be licensed was reduced by 30%.

To date, Ukraine established 120 licensing centers, and is planning to open over 560 new ones (on the basis of actual licensing centers), say government analysts. The administrative service centers that operate under a "single window" principle have been opened in most of the country's regions. They issue 143 types of permits and render over 100 of other administrative services. Most of the centers are located in the Dnepropetrovsk, Sumy, and Kyiv regions.