DUSHANBE, September 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — Presentation of Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times report was held in Dushanbe on September 16.
Organized by the World Bank Dushanbe Office, IFC (International Finance Corporation) Tajikistan and the State Committee for Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest) of Tajikistan, the event is part of the Fair of Doing Business Reforms dedicated to reforms and legal regulation initiatives.
As it had been reported earlier, a video briefing to present the World Bank Group presented the Doing Business 2010 report was held on September 10.
Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times report, which is the joint World Bank Group and IFC flagship publication, ranks Tajikistan among the to ten reformer countries. Tajikistan is ranked 152nd among 183 economies in this report, improving several places compared to 2009.
It is the seventh in a series of annual reports investigating regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies.
A set of regulations affecting 10 stages of a business’s life are measured: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. Data in Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times are current as of June 1, 2009. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where, and why.
The data set covers 183 economies: 46 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 32 in Latin America and The Caribbean, 27 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 24 in East Asia and Pacific, 19 in the Middle East and North Africa and 8 in South Asia, as well as 27 OECD high-income economies as benchmarks.
According to the report, Tajikistan amended its insolvency law, aiming to reduce statutory time limits and the costs of proceedings. Changes were introduced that simplified the construction permit process, reducing procedures and time. A new law on credit histories improves access to credit information by creating a private credit bureau. Investor protections were strengthened with amendments to the joint stock company law, increasing disclosure requirements for transactions involving conflicts of interest, allowing for greater director liability, and giving shareholders the chance to request that harmful related-party transactions be rescinded. The state duty for property transfer has quadrupled, raising the cost of registering property by 2.8 percent of a property’s value. Business start-up was eased by reducing the minimum capital requirement and shortening the time to obtain a tax identification number.
