Russia has advanced to 28th place in this year’s World Bank’s Doing Business report, failing to achieve a goal set by President Vladimir Putin to enter the top 20 of the business environment rating, Reuters reports.
In the latest report, Russia inched up three more positions to the 28th place out of 190 economies ranked. The country made progress in dealing with construction permits and increased quality control for construction through quality-based inspections, which are two of the subcategories, and aspects of the ranking that Russia is particularly bad at.
Since 2011 Russia has jumped an impressive 89 places in the Doing Business ranking, being the only economy showing such a fast-paced improvement.
The country is now one notch below Austria, ranked 27th, but above Japan which is in 29th place. New Zealand remained the best place for Doing Business in the world, according to the World Bank, while Somalia was the worst.
Getting electricity also became both cheaper and easier, paying taxes less costly due to higher depreciation rates for fixed assets, while online customs clearances improved trading across borders. All of the mentioned reforms apply both to Moscow and St Petersburg.
In terms of minority shareholder’s interests, Russia remained weak at 72nd spot dropping 15 ranks over the year. Despite the customs reforms, international trade also remained poorly ranked in 99th place.
This month Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov argued that low investment in Russia was due to the domestic business community not trusting the government.
