Israel down to 40th in doing business rankings

The World Bank rated Israel 121 in building permits and 135 in registering land rights.

Figures published by the World Bank put Israel in 40th place on the list of the best countries for doing business, two places lower than Israel's 38th place rating last year.

Israel's worst downgrade was in setting up a business, in which its rating went down eight places to 53rd place. Israel continues to have one of the world's worst ratings for real estate - 121st place for obtaining building permits (118th place last year) and 135th place in registering land rights (130th place last year). Israel also continues to have poor ratings in contract enforcement (111th place), electricity hookups (109th place), and taxation (97th place).

On the other hand, Israel has relatively good ratings in protection of minority shareholders (11th place), transportation of goods at border crossings (12th place), protection against bankruptcy (24th place), and obtaining credit (36th place) - although the rating for credit is significantly lower than last year's 30th place.

The World Bank's rating, designed to provide a comparative look at the ease of doing business in countries, is being published for the 12th straight year. The 189 countries are rated according to measures of the business regulations enforced in the country, including the difficulty of setting up a business, obtaining building permits, registering land rights, the level of taxation, cross-border trading, and contract enforcement.

The list is led by smaller countries considered well-run: Singapore and New Zealand. The report states that Singapore, which kept its place at the top of the list from last year, continues to have the most business-friendly regulation. China, on the other hand, the world's second largest economy, is rated only in 90th place, a slight improvement on its 93rd place rating from two years ago. Hong Kong, Denmark, and South Korea fill out the top five, following by Norway, the US, the UK, Finland, and Australia.

At the bottom of the list are Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea. Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand also head the Index of Economic Freedom published this week by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Israel is in 33rd place on this index, defined as a "mostly free" economy, with a slight improvement over last year's rating.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2015

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015

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