Business development and its support are among the priorities of successive reforms in the country.
According to “Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All” rating, published by World Bank on October 25, Uzbekistan has been placed 87th among 190 countries, having retained its previous year position. World Bank experts have raised the position of Uzbekistan in 5 of the 10 indicators of the report, the information service of the Ministry of economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan said.
Significant improvement is marked by the registration of an enterprise (25th place, +17 positions), which was due to the practical implementation of the simplified procedure for state registration through the Internet and improvement of the system of “One window” at registration of business entities.
Following the reforms undertaken over the recent years aimed at simplification of procedures for starting businesses, launching a business in Uzbekistan takes less time than, for example, in Switzerland (1.8 times), Germany (1.9), Japan and Russia (2), Israel (2.2), Greece and Spain (2.3), India (4.7), China (5.5) and Brazil (14.5 times).
A significant rise can also be observed in the connection to the electric networks (83rd, +29 positions), which is associated with improved delivery reliability and transparency of tariffs of electric energy.
Large-scale reforms to introduce modern corporate governance practices and enhance the role and rights of private shareholders have allowed to significantly improve of the country’s rating on “Protecting minority investors” (70th, +18 positions). The improvement was facilitated by the introduction of new norms and mechanisms aimed at strengthening the protection of minority investors by improving disclosure of information on joint-stock companies, specifying the ownership structure of the share capital.
Consistent improvement of legislation in the field of issuing permits for the construction and implementation of a new transparent mechanism for allocation of land plots on the basis of competition contributed to the improvement of the country’s rating in this direction (147th, +4 positions).
The reforms have greatly simplified and improved the transparency of provision of land plots, issue of construction permits, registration of cadastral documentation. As a result, in the latest report of the World Bank Uzbekistan is among 17 countries, which improved the quality of land administration in 2015-2016.
According to the new report, the tax burden amounted to 38.1%, which was much lower than in countries such as USA, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Japan, China, India, Russia and others.
Uzbekistan entered the top hundred countries in areas such as registration of enterprise (25th place), enforcing contracts (38), loans (44), protecting minority investors (70), registering property (75) and connecting to electric networks (83).
“Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All” is the 14th annual edition of the World Bank Group, which assesses regulatory policies in entrepreneurial activity.
Global ranking on ease of business environment is headed by New Zealand. The top five also includes Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong (China) and the Republic of Korea.
The recently adopted decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On additional measures to ensure the accelerated development of entrepreneurship, the full protection of private ownership and qualitative improvement of business climate”, that provides for “granting more freedom to small business and private entrepreneurship, radical reduction of interference in their activities with a focus on early warning, improving the efficiency of prevention and the prevention of violations”, is a clear evidence of the transition to a qualitatively new level of state policy in this sphere.
The Program of comprehensive measures, approved by the decree provides for certain measures aimed at further simplification and reduction of the cost of doing business, improving the system of licensing procedures and the transparency of public services, which in turn contributes to further improvement of the ranking of Uzbekistan in the World Bank “Doing business” rating. (Uzreport/Business World Magazine)
