Georgia: Top Performing Economy in Europe and Central Asia
By Khatia Kardava and Tea Mariamidze
Friday, November 3
Georgia has improved its performance by seven positions and has taken the ninth position in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report, which ranks the country among the highest reformers in Europe and Central Asia.
The latest, 15th anniversary edition of the World Bank’s (WB) annual Doing Business (DB) report compares conditions for doing business in 190 countries across the world. It studies the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
The region’s top ranked economies according to Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs are Georgia (9th place), the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (11th place) and Lithuania (16th place). Georgia’s score improved by 2.12 points to make up a total of 82.04 points. Last year, Georgia stood at the 16th position.
The report finds that the country has taken important steps toward better and more effective regulations and assesses it as a top performing economy. According to the document, it takes two procedures and two days to register a new business in Georgia, compared with nine procedures and 25 days back in 2003. Among the top 10, Georgia has implemented the highest number of business regulation reforms, a total of 47, for over a decade now.
The World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, Mercy Tembon, stresses that Georgia has made major achievements with the support of WB in simplifying procedures for registering businesses.
Since 90ies, the WB has supported the Georgian government to implement reforms in a number of spheres.
The WB Regional Director for South Caucasus Tembon stated that the WB commends the Government of Georgia for this remarkable achievement and encourages them to maintain this momentum.
"With tangible reforms implemented in three key areas this year – making electricity more affordable, strengthening minority investor protections, and making resolving insolvency easier – Georgia continues to be a top reformer in the Europe and Central Asia region, and is poised to accelerate inclusive and sustainable growth," Tembon said.
Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Giorgi Gakharia, stated that Georgia’s recent indicator is important for the Georgian business environment and investment climate.
“Today, we can say that out of 190 countries, Georgia is in the club of countries where you can easily do business,” Minister said at a press-conference on Wednesday adding that “Georgia has become the regional leader.”
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili also responded to the WB report results on his social network.
“Georgia advances seven positions and is ranked highest in Europe & Central Asia in World Bank's Doing Business 2018 report,” the PM’s tweet reads.
The Doing Business 2018 top ten countries are New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark, Korea, Hong-Kong, China, USA, Great Britain, Norway, Georgia and Sweden.
Although, this is not the first time Georgia is on the 9th position. The 2013 Doing Business Report also ranked the country on this position. However, since then Doing Business changed its methodology and added qualitative indicators, the results of previous years are also recalculated.
Georgia’s 9th place according to the 2013 report now equals 23rd. Accordingly, the country has advanced by 14 points compared to 2013.
Table 1. Georgia’s position has improved in six indicators since 2013:
Doing Business 2018
Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs is the World Bank Group flagship publication and measures regulations, which affect 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. DB also measures labor market regulations, which is not included in this year’s ranking.
The Doing Business project
Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.
The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle.
The 1rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicators and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicators and 190 economies.
The initial goal remains to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world.
