49709doing-worldbank

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8
DOING BUSINESS 2017
lead to safe buildings. Efficient business
regulatory systems allow entrepreneurs
to achieve business-related tasks simply,
quickly and inexpensively. Therefore, an
economy scores better on the metric for
regulatory efficiency if it has a system in
place that allows entrepreneurs to start a
business through a small number of steps,
in short time and at lower cost.
Regulatory efficiency and regulatory
quality go hand in hand. Economies that
have efficient regulatory processes as
measured by Doing Business also tend to
have good regulatory quality. However,
the gap between the two measures
varies significantly by region. In OECD
high-income economies, the average
distance to the frontier score for regulatory
efficiency is 79.4 while regulatory
quality lags at 73.4. In the Middle East
and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa
the gap between efficiency and quality is
larger: on efficiency these regions score
65.4 and 56.5 while on quality they score
45.2 and 36.7, respectively.
second-highest incidence of reforms, with
77% of economies implementing at least
one reform captured by Doing Business.
Ten economies are highlighted this year for
making the biggest improvements in their
business regulations—Brunei Darussalam,
Kazakhstan, Kenya, Belarus, Indonesia,
Serbia, Georgia, Pakistan, the United
Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The ease of
doing business ranking for these economies
ranges from 144 in Pakistan to 16
in Georgia; on average it is 62. Compared
to previous years there is a lower number
of top improvers from Sub-Saharan Africa
even though this region accounts for over
a quarter of all reforms globally.
There are several possible explanations
for the increase in reform intensity. One
is that economies are increasingly interested
in improving business regulatory
conditions and therefore are reforming
more. Another is that there are more
areas where reforms can be captured
following the expansion of the Doing
Business methodology. The data indicate
that both factors have contributed. A
substantial number of the reforms
implemented this year are in areas that
were added since Doing Business 2015
(figure 1.4). Around 26% of the reforms
implemented in the expanded indicator
sets were only made in these new areas.
And another 17% concern both the new
and old indicators. Indeed, over 40% of
all reforms affected at least one of the
components added since Doing Business
2015. The frequency of reform in the new
areas varies substantially by topic, with
the most reforms occurring within the
enforcing contracts and registering property
indicators. In registering property, for
example, this year the cadastral maps
have been digitized and made available
online in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia.
The online application provides customers
with access to a spatial database that
allows them to check property boundaries.
And in enforcing contracts, the
government of Rwanda introduced the
Integrated Electronic Case Management
ECONOMIES WITH THE
LARGEST IMPROVEMENTS
IN BUSINESS REGULATION
IN 2015/16
In 2015/16, 137 economies worldwide
implemented 283 business regulatory
reforms. This represents an increase of
more than 20% compared to last year. In
fact, the number of economies that implemented
at least one reform increased
from 122 to 137, indicating that there are
more economies trying to improve in the
areas measured in Doing Business. And
139 economies made an improvement
in the distance to frontier score; doing
business is now easier and less costly in
those economies compared to last year.
With 49 reforms, starting a business
continues to be the indicator set with the
highest number of reforms followed by
paying taxes with 46. Of the economies
in Europe and Central Asia, 96% implemented
at least one Doing Business reform.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the
FIGURE 1.4 Doing Business reforms in 2015/16 in the areas added since Doing
Business 2015
Number of reforms
50
40
30
20
10
0
Dealing with
construction
permits
Getting
electricity
Registering
property
Reforms on the new part
of the indicator
Getting
credit
Protecting
minority
investors
Reforms on the old part
of the indicator
Paying
taxes
Enforcing
contracts
Reforms on both parts
Resolving
insolvency
Source: Doing Business database.
Note: The new components added since Doing Business 2015 are: the building quality control index in dealing with
construction permits, the reliability of supply and transparency of tariffs index in getting electricity, the quality of
land administration index in registering property, 3 points in the strength of legal rights index and 2 points in the
depth of credit information index in getting credit, extent of shareholder governance index in protecting minority
investors, post-filing in paying taxes, quality of judicial processes index in enforcing contracts and strength of
insolvency framework index in resolving insolvency.