Doing Business 2009: China Makes Key Improvements, as East Asia Gains Momentum in Regulatory Reforms
In Beijing:
Huan Ni
Phone: (+86) 010 5860 3262
E-mail: hni@ifc.org
Li Li
Phone: (+86) 010 5861 7850
E-mail: lli2@worldbank.org
In Hong Kong:
Andrew Mak
Phone: (+852) 2509 8110
E-mail: amak@ifc.org
In Washington, D.C.:
Maria Alexandra Velez Henao
Phone: +1 (202) 458-8789
E-mail: mvelezhenao@ifc.org
Beijing, China, September 10, 2008—
Regulatory reforms are gaining momentum worldwide, reaching record numbers
this year, finds Doing
Business 2009—the sixth in
a series of annual reports published by IFC and the World Bank. According
to the report, China introduced important reforms between June 2007 and
June 2008 that made it easier to obtain credit, pay taxes and enforce contracts.
The country’s global ranking on the ease of doing business rose to 83
from 90.
China introduced a new property law
in October 2007 that made obtaining credit easier by expanding the range
of assets used as collateral to include accounts receivables. China also
reduced the tax burden on businesses by cutting the corporate income tax
and the time spent on paying taxes. Contract enforcement was strengthened.
“Economies need rules that are efficient,
easy to use, and accessible to all who have to use them. Otherwise, businesses
get trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less
access to finance and hire fewer workers, and where workers lack the protection
of labor law,” said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC Vice President for Financial
and Private Sector Development. “Doing
Business encourages
good rules, and good rules are a better basis for healthy business than
who you know,” he added.
Dahlia Khalifa, a coauthor of the report,
said, “Countries in the region are clearly committed to reform agendas.
Regardless of their stage of economic development, they are recognizing
the role that regulatory reform can play in staying competitive, while
boosting entrepreneurship and creating jobs.”
Globally, Singapore leads the rankings
on the overall regulatory ease of doing business for a third consecutive
year. New Zealand is runner-up, and the United States is in third place.
Other high-ranking countries and territories in East Asia and the
Pacific are Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic
of China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea.
Doing
Business 2009 ranks
181 economies on the overall ease of doing business based on 10 indicators
of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government
requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders,
paying taxes, and closing a business. The rankings do not reflect such
areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility,
investor perceptions, or crime rates.
The Doing
Business project is
based on the efforts of more than 6,700 local experts—business consultants,
lawyers, accountants, and government officials—and leading academics around
the world who provided methodological support and review. The data, methodology,
and names of contributors are publicly available online at www.doingbusiness.org.
For more details about Doing Business in China, please visit: http://www.doingbusiness.org/china.
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