World Bank Ranks Macedonia, Moldova in Global Top 10 of Reformers in 2008/09

In the past three years, reforms have been moving eastward from the European Union. Albania, Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic and Macedonia implemented reforms in several areas for the third year in row, the World Bank said in a statement following the release of its Doing Business 2010 report that covers 183 economies.

"In Macedonia starting a business now takes four days, because the central registry forwards relevant company information to other institutions. Several documents no longer have to be notarized. Moldova offers an expedited, 24-hour company registration service for an additional fee," the report said.

"Inspired by their neighbors, Kazakhstan, Montenegro and Tajikistan increased reform efforts this past year."

On the report's ease-of-doing-business scale, Macedonia rose to 32nd from 69th place in 2009 while Moldova moved up to 94th from 108th position.

The report, the seventh in a series of annual reports published by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, its private sector arm, covers the period from June 2008 to May 2009.

It ranks economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business. The rankings do not reflect such areas as security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems.

“Reformers around the world focused on making it easier to start and operate businesses, strengthening property rights, and improving commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures. Reformers were particularly active in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa,” the report said.

European Union member Bulgaria placed at the 44th position in the 2010 ease of doing business rankings, ahead of its other fellow member states in the region, Slovenia at 53rd and Romania at 55th, the report showed.

These are so far the only three SEE countries to join the bloc. The rest are at different stages of building closer ties with the EU.

Singapore leads the 2010 global rankings on the overall regulatory ease of doing business for a fourth year in row, followed by New Zealand and Honk Kong.

Following are the rankings on the ease of doing business for the SEE countries that were included in the World Bank's 2010 report. Most of the rankings for 2009 have been revised.