TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Albania’s business climate suffered a major setback in the past year, losing 35 places in the World Bank Doing Business report on a sharp deterioration in dealing with construction permits.
Albania ranked 97th out of 189 countries in the 2016 Doing Business report, from a revised 62nd last year, lagging behind all regional countries.
Among regional EU aspirant competitors, Macedonia ranked 12th, Montenegro 46th, Turkey 55th, Serbia 59th, Kosovo 66th and Bosnia and Herzegovina 79th.
Albania’s sharp deterioration was affected by the dealing with construction permits indicator where it lost 67 places to rank the bottom 189th in the report. “Albania made dealing with construction permits more difficult by suspending the issuance of building permits.”
Protecting minority investors and trading across borders are mentioned as reforms in the report.
“Albania strengthened minority investor protections by introducing legal requirements for immediate disclosure of related-party transactions to the public. Albania also made exporting easier by implementing an electronic risk-based inspection system, which reduced the time for border compliance,” says the report.
Albania’s best indicators in the 2016 Doing Business report were protecting minority investors (8th), trading across borders (37th), resolving insolvency (42nd), getting credit (42nd) and starting a business (58th).
Registering property, paying taxes, getting electricity and dealing with construction permits deteriorated in 2015 ranking Albania 107th to 189th.
Back in 2014, Albania has achieved its best ever result in the Doing Business report, ranking 68th (revised to 62nd) among 189 global economies, considerably improving its image among foreign investors who consider the flagship report as a reference point before deciding to invest.
In the 2015 Doing Business, Albania improved in three areas of business regulatory reform including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and registering property.
Doing Business, a World Bank Group flagship report, covers 189 economies and 10 indicator sets including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, getting credit, protecting investors, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency.
