Iran’s Business Environment Ranking Falls Again; 128th Among 190 Countries
The World Bank released a report on Wednesday, October 31st, examining the state of business environments across countries worldwide during 2018.
According to the report, Iran ranks 128th among 190 countries in the world in terms of the ease of doing business index for the current calendar year.
Iran’s ranking last year was 124th, which represented a decline of four positions compared to 2016 and seven positions compared to 2015. Thus, Iran’s ranking has fallen for yet another consecutive year.
According to the World Bank, New Zealand, Singapore, and Denmark had the best business environment conditions in the world this year, while Somalia, Eritrea, and Venezuela ranked at the bottom of the table. Last year, these same countries held the best and worst positions in the same order.
The World Bank considers ten components when classifying countries based on “business environment”: starting a business, obtaining construction permits, access to electricity, registering property, obtaining credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and bankruptcy.
The report adds that data shows progress in the business environment is not dependent on countries’ background and conditions, and any government that is willing can make progress in this regard.
The World Bank states that India and China have taken significant steps in this area. However, there have been small countries with very weak economies that have implemented important measures in this field. For instance, Djibouti is among six countries that implemented the most reforms in the business environment during the current year.
The most significant economic reforms in improving the business environment have been made in Afghanistan, Djibouti, China, Azerbaijan, India, Togo, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Turkey, and Rwanda, respectively.
Of course, some of these countries still have a long way to go to achieve better rankings in the global business environment table. For example, Afghanistan currently ranks 167th and has one of the worst business environment conditions in that country.
The World Bank states that no economy can progress without healthy development of the private sector.
According to the report, from June 2017 to May this year, 314 major reforms in the global business environment have been recorded, and the conditions in 128 countries have improved in this regard.
Source: Radio Farda
