Russia is Eight Positions Up in the Doing Business Rating
On October 22, 2012, the Report: Doing Business 2013 (the 10th edition of the series within the frameworks of the Doing Business Project) by the International Financial Corporation and the World Bank was released. The subject of the research deals with the activities of small and mid-sized businesses, as well as analysis of regulatory documents.
The first report fr om the Doing Business series was published in 2003. It included the data on five indices and 133 countries. The 2013 report provides the data on 11 indices and 185 countries. The latest report covers regulatory changes which took place from July 2011 till May 2012. In the above period, governments of 108 countries carried out altogether 201 reforms. For seven years running, Singapore has been the rating’s leader.
In the past year, much progress was made by Poland in its effort to simplify conditions for doing business; Poland moved from the 74th place to the 55th place after carrying out four reforms in the following areas: registration of property, taxation, enforcement of contracts and handling of insolvency.
In the past year, the Russian Federation moved from the 120th place to the 112th place. It was mainly changes in the taxation system that had a positive effect on Russia’s rating; as regards the above criterion Russia moved from the 105th place to the 64th place. Such growth is related to optimization of VAT payment and expansion of the practice of electronic submission of documents. The number of payments a year fell from 9 to 7, while the time spent on execution of taxes was reduced from 290 hours to 177 hours.
As regards all the criteria mentioned above, Russia is doing well in enforcement of contracts. The above criterion shows efficiency of contract enforcement measures. As regards that criterion, Russia was two points up and is now rated the 11th in the world.
However, there are three areas wh ere Russia lags much behind, namely, securing of permits for building (the 178th place), connection to power-supply systems (the 184th place) and international trade (the 162nd place). It is to be noted that despite the fact there was much talk about the need to make customs administration simpler the Russian Federation moved two positions down as regards the international trade index in the past year.
Things do not stand better with other member states of the Customs Union, either. The Republic of Belarus is rated the 58th and the 151st in the composite rating and the international trade rating, respectively, while the Republic of Kazakhstan, the 49th and the 182nd, respectively.
As seen from the table, such specific factors as a large number of documents required for import and export of goods, high costs of foreign trade deals and rather lengthy procedures are inherent to all the member-states of the Customs Union.
The main foreign trade indices
International trade rating Number of documents for export (units) Time spent on export
(days) Cost of export
(US$ per container) Number of documents for import
(units) Time spent on import (days) Cost of import
(US$ per container)
Singapore 1 4 5 456 4 4 439
Belarus 151 9 15 1510 10 30 2315
The Russian Federation 162 8 21 2820 11 36 2920
Kazakhstan 182 9 81 4685 12 69 4665
Source: http://www.doingbusiness.org
N.P. Volovik, Head of the Foreign Trade Department
In the past year, much progress was made by Poland in its effort to simplify conditions for doing business; Poland moved from the 74th place to the 55th place after carrying out four reforms in the following areas: registration of property, taxation, enforcement of contracts and handling of insolvency.
In the past year, the Russian Federation moved from the 120th place to the 112th place. It was mainly changes in the taxation system that had a positive effect on Russia’s rating; as regards the above criterion Russia moved from the 105th place to the 64th place. Such growth is related to optimization of VAT payment and expansion of the practice of electronic submission of documents. The number of payments a year fell from 9 to 7, while the time spent on execution of taxes was reduced from 290 hours to 177 hours.
As regards all the criteria mentioned above, Russia is doing well in enforcement of contracts. The above criterion shows efficiency of contract enforcement measures. As regards that criterion, Russia was two points up and is now rated the 11th in the world.
However, there are three areas wh ere Russia lags much behind, namely, securing of permits for building (the 178th place), connection to power-supply systems (the 184th place) and international trade (the 162nd place). It is to be noted that despite the fact there was much talk about the need to make customs administration simpler the Russian Federation moved two positions down as regards the international trade index in the past year.
Things do not stand better with other member states of the Customs Union, either. The Republic of Belarus is rated the 58th and the 151st in the composite rating and the international trade rating, respectively, while the Republic of Kazakhstan, the 49th and the 182nd, respectively.
As seen from the table, such specific factors as a large number of documents required for import and export of goods, high costs of foreign trade deals and rather lengthy procedures are inherent to all the member-states of the Customs Union.
The main foreign trade indices
International trade rating Number of documents for export (units) Time spent on export
(days) Cost of export
(US$ per container) Number of documents for import
(units) Time spent on import (days) Cost of import
(US$ per container)
Singapore 1 4 5 456 4 4 439
Belarus 151 9 15 1510 10 30 2315
The Russian Federation 162 8 21 2820 11 36 2920
Kazakhstan 182 9 81 4685 12 69 4665
Source: http://www.doingbusiness.org
N.P. Volovik, Head of the Foreign Trade Department