Israel rises to 35th place in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report
Israel jumped 14 places to be ranked 35th among 190 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report, published by the Washington financial institution on Thursday.
The annual report, which also saw Israel rise from 54th to 49th place worldwide last year, evaluates regulations enhancing or constraining domestic business activity for small and medium-size enterprises over a 12-month period. Focusing on the largest business cities of each economy, the report evaluated ease of business in Tel Aviv.
The final ranking is based on regulations affecting 10 areas of the life of a business. Israel’s significant rise in the rankings, the report stated, was due to regulatory improvements in starting a business, getting credit, paying taxes and cross-border trading.
New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong were ranked as the three leading economies for ease of business. At the other end of the spectrum, Somalia, Eritrea and Venezuela were found to be the most difficult locations for business activity. The West Bank and Gaza, based on the evaluation of business in Ramallah, were ranked in 117th place worldwide, slipping one place since last year’s report.
Commenting on the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Israel’s improved ranking.
“There are approximately 200 countries, and we rose last year from 54th place to 49th place, and this year we jumped to 35th place – a very large jump,” Netanyahu said. “There is still some way to go, but the praiseworthy work carried out by the Finance Ministry, the accountant-general, the Justice Ministry, and our office is changing the face of the Israeli economy. This is an important achievement. It needs to be continued.”
During the past year, the report said, Israel had made starting a business easier by allowing joint registration of corporate tax and value added tax. Access to credit information had also been improved by reporting both positive and negative data on individual borrowers.
The report also cited an improvement in cross-border trade. Exporting had been made easier through the elimination of the certificate of origin requirement, subsequently decreasing the time and cost of export documentary compliance.