By Gajtis Bejleri
TIRANA, July 15 – Doing business in Albania or at least in various cities of the country is not as hard as it might seem. Shkodra ranks third among cities in South East Europe, followed by Vlora on sixth and Tirana 11th. The new report by the World Bank “Doing Business in South East Europe 2008” compares 22 cities in seven different economies: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
The easiest Western Balkan city to do business is Bitola, Macedonia, while Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ranks last among the selected 22, according to the report.
The study was based on four different challenges of doing business: starting a business, obtaining a construction license, registering the property, and contract enforcement. Vlora ranks first in the Balkans in starting a business, and a businessman there needs only seven days to register the property, just as long as in Paris or Lisbon. It takes even less to register property in Pljevlje, Montenegro, ranking first in the category, while in Mostar the process could take up to nine times longer. Moreover, obtaining a construction license, says the report, is expensive everywhere in the region, but Tirana seems to be cheaper; a license costing 4.61 percent of the GDP per capita, while the easiest city to obtain one is Osijek, Croatia. Zrenjanin, Serbia, ranked second in the list, leads in contract enforcements.
“This report shows data in the city level, which could inspire further reforms on local, national, and regional level,” said Jane Armitage, director at the World Bank.
The World Bank releases annually a similar report on the national scale. While Albania ranked among the last countries in 2008, Croatia and Macedonia were among the first ten in term of reforms. Before 2005, 956 days were needed to register property in Croatia, while now one needs only 174 days.
