Turkey top improver for first time in Doing Business report: World Bank

ANKARA

Turkey carried out a record number of business reforms in the past year, earning the country a spot in this year’s top 10 global improvers, read the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2019: Training for Reforms report on Oct. 31.

The reforms are a significant acceleration of the country’s efforts to improve the business climate for domestic small and medium enterprises, according to the report.

As a result of the past year’s reforms, Turkey advanced to 43rd place in the global ease of doing business ranking by climbing 17 ladders in the list of 190 countries, the report showed.

“I am pleased to note the priority the government is placing on the important agenda of improving the business climate to boost investment and create jobs. Given the current economic environment in Turkey, it is, nevertheless, encouraging to the global business community and local entrepreneurs alike to see the process of conducting business simplified in so many Doing Business areas,” said Johannes Zutt, the World Bank Country Director for Turkey.

Some of the reforms implemented in the past year were also mentioned in the report.

According to the report, starting a business was made easier and faster by removing the paid-in minimum capital requirement, eliminating notarization requirements and reducing registration costs. It now takes seven days to start a business, as opposed to being 10 days previously.

Dealing with construction permits was improved by publishing all pre-application requirements needed to obtain a construction permit online, thereby enhancing the process of construction permits. Turkey now ranks 59 globally in this area, compared with 96 last year, it noted.

“Getting credit was also strengthened by improving access to credit information and enhancing the rights of secured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. As a result of this reform, Turkey catapulted to 32nd place globally in this area from 77 last year,” it added.

Paying taxes was made easier by improving the online portal for filling and payments of taxes and the time needed by a firm to file taxes has been reduced to 170 hours from 215 hours.

The country performs best in the areas of enforcing contracts, with a global rank of 19, and a rank of 26 for protecting minority investors.

For example, resolving a commercial dispute through a local first-instance court in Turkey costs 25 percent of the claim value, compared to the regional average of 26.3 percent.

It also performs well in the area of registering property, with a global rank of 39, and at just five days, it is four times faster to register a property transfer in Turkey than in the region, according to the report.

However, the country underperforms in the areas of resolving insolvency with a global rank of 109, paying taxes with a rank of 80 and a rank of 78 for starting a business.

New Zealand is the best place for doing business in the world, according to the World Bank, while Somalia is the worst.