Doing Business 2010: A record in business regulation reform



Doing Business 2010: A record in business regulation reform
Illustration

The annual report of the World Bank is announcing a record level of the number of business regulation reforms in the world. Between June 2008 and May 2009, 287 reforms were recorded in 131 economies, 20% more than the year before.The good news are that "reformers focused on making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening property rights and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures", as one can read in the report. Eastern Europe was one of the more active regions. Here is the ranking of the 27 European countries:

Doing Business in Europe

Country

Ease of doing

business rank

United Kingdom 5
Denmark 6
Ireland 7
Finland 16
 Sweden 18
 Belgium 22
 Estonia 24
 Germany 25
 Lithuania 26
 Latvia 27
 Austria 28
 Netherlands 30
 France 31
 Cyprus 40
 Slovakia 42
 Bulgaria  44
 Hungary 47
 Portugal 48
 Slovenia 53
 Romania 55
 Spain 62
 Luxembourg 64
 Poland 72
 Czech Republic 74
 Italy 78
 Greece 109
Malta N.A

Source: World Bank, Doing Business 2010

(Ranking 1-183, 1= best)