AP
Bank: South Asia More Business Friendly
Wednesday September 14, 6:31 am ET
Doing Business Is Easier in Pakistan Than India, World Bank Says
NEW DELHI (AP) – South Asian economies are becoming more open and business-friendly in a bid to attract foreign companies, but most countries in the region still need to cut a lot red tape, the World Bank said in a report.
In one surprising finding, the bank’s report said that Pakistan is the region’s leader when it comes to pushing for business reforms, while its powerful economic neighbor India has been slow in removing bureaucratic hurdles.
For the first time in its annual “Doing Business” report, released Tuesday, the World Bank ranks 155 economies worldwide on the openness of business environment, which tracks a set of regulations on starting and operating a business, rules for trading in goods and services and the time and cost of meeting various government requirements.
Pakistan came in 60th on this list, ahead of India, at 116th, and Sri Lanka, at 75th, but behind Nepal, ranked 55th, and the Maldives, 31st.
But on a second list compiled in the same report, which ranked countries according to the number of measures each of them initiated in the past year to liberlize their economies, Pakistan came in 10th globally – best in the region.
In examples of red tape, the report said that in India, an entrepreneur must submit 15 documents and get 27 signatures to import goods. In Bangladesh, registering property takes 363 days and costs 11 percent of the property value.
For the first time, the “Doing Business” report, an annual publication, studies war-ravaged Afghanistan. While many reforms are underway there, it still takes 97 days and 57 signatures to import goods into Kabul, while registering property takes 252 days and costs 10 percent of property value, the report said.
The rankings in the report, however, are limited in scope.
“It does not account for a country’s proximity to large markets, quality of infrastructure services, the security of property from theft and looting, macroeconomic conditions, or the underlying strength of institutions,” the report said.