Vienna, 28th June 2011 (MIA) – Skopje, Bitola and tetovo are ranked among the best business destinations out of 22 cities in seven countries in South East Europe. These three Macedonian cities are ranked at the first, third and fifth place in the latest Doing Business 2011 Report from the World Bank, which was presented in Vienna on Tuesday.
– Macedonian cities and Macedonia are ranked amongst the best in SEE, which is a proof that countries in the region have the best business climate, i.e. the best reforms for improving the business climate, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski said, who took part in the conference at which the Doing Business 2011 Report for SEE was presented.
According to him, this speaks also in favour of the activities undertaken to improve the business climate, while being ranked as the 4th top reformer in 2008 and as the third top reformer in 2010 suggests that Macedonia continuously implements sound reforms in terms of the business climate.
– This is yet another report which, together with 2008 and 2010 reports, confirms that Macedonia constantly implements good reforms regarding the business climate. As a result, in 2007 and 2008, Macedonia managed to achieve the best economic results with the highest level of investments of over EUR 1.2 billion and high economic growth of 5.5% in average. In 2009 and 2010, when the world was hit by the global economic crisis, these reforms had made Macedonia’s economy more resilient to the crisis in order for the Macedonian companies to be able to survive the crisis, and now in 2011, when the crisis is almost over, we are able to start realise economic growth again. This is being confirmed by the performance in the first quarter in 2011, when Macedonia realised the fifth best results in Europe with GDP growth of over 5%, Stavreski pointed out.
Doing Business Report measures reforms in four areas. The first one is starting a business, “Macedonia being absolutely the best in the region, ranked as fifth worldwide.
– It takes only three days for a company to start a business in Macedonia, whereby a company can be registered in just four hours. It is the best worldwide result, Stavreski underlined. As regards the second indicator – dealing with construction permits, Macedonia has also made headway, especially in reducing the number of procedures related to construction.
– According to the latest amendments, number of procedures for building a business facility is reduced from 21 to 4. Thereby, utility costs are reduced by 95%, accounting for only 5% compared to the previous costs, which makes Macedonia even more competitive, Stavreski underlined, adding that significant improvement is expected at national level as regards this indicator in the next Doing Business Report from the World Bank. He emphasized that there was an improvement achieved in relation to registering property indicator, i.e. with respect to the Real Estate Cadastre Agency, where procedures are accelerated, documents can be submitted electronically, and cadaster fees are also reduced. As Finance Minister said, World Bank project has significantly contributed thereto, leading to fundamental positive changes in the functioning of the Agency, which is also a reform being pointed out as a good example.
According to the fourth indicator – enforcing contracts, i.e. the part pertaining to commercial disputes, Macedonia has made progress, i.e. a commercial dispute is settled in a shorter period of time and the procedure lasts shorter, although, as Stavreski pointed out, there is still room for improvements.
– The Report verifies the sound policies and reforms made at both national and local level in reducing the number of procedures, improving the business climate, lowering costs of the companies. Still, we expect for these policies, given the fact that we are the best in the region, to yield more results in future in attracting investments, either domestic or foreign, launching an investment cycle and creating jobs, which was also pointed out by the World Bank in this Report, stating that, taking into account the conditions in Macedonia and the performance shown as regards business climate reform, significant increase of investments and job creation is expected in the coming years, Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski, said in Viena.
The Report presented Tuesday included 22 cities from Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova and Albania. (MIA)
