Azerbaijan upgrades its position in WB Doing Business report

Azerbaijan has significantly improved its positions in the World Bank Group's Doing Business ranking published on November 1.

Thus, Azerbaijan ranked 25th among 190 countries in Doing Business 2019, while it was 57th in Doing Business 2018.

According to Doing Business 2019, Azerbaijan ranks 9th in "Business registration", 17th in "Registering property", 22nd in "Getting credit", 2nd in "Protecting minority investors", 28th in "Taxation".

Azerbaijan has entered the list of countries with the most noticeable improvement in the economy, according to Doing Business 2019.

Doing Business authors said that Azerbaijan has carried out a record number of reforms aimed at simplifying doing business in 20172018 among 10 economies that have shown significant improvement.

In particular, the authors stressed that Azerbaijan has simplified the process of obtaining building permits, connecting to power grids, registering property, getting credit, taxation, international trade.

The authors also stressed labor market reforms and reforms aimed at protecting minority investors.

Some of these reforms include institutional changes, the authors said.

Azerbaijan has created a "single window" for issuing building permits, which reduces the time to obtain a permit to 80 days. Azerbaijan has also improved access to loans by creating the first credit bureau and a movable property registry.

Moreover, the authors emphasize that the process of connecting to the electricity grids has also been simplified thanks to the ASAN Kommunal centers in Azerbaijan.

The Doing Business Report is an annual study of the World Bank Group, which assesses in 190 countries the ease of doing business based on 10 indicators. The report is devoted to the assessment of regulations and to the order of their application in practice (enforcement).

They regulate governing the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the life cycle.

The report has been compiled since 2003 and is usually published in the autumn. Since 2005 (Doing Business 2006), the report has a rating of states on the ease of doing business, and since 2006 (DB 2007), countries are also ranked by indicators.

In addition, Doing Business studies not only point out problems that hinder the development of entrepreneurship, but also determine their causes and provide recommendations for the necessary reforms.

Despite fall in oil prices, since the end of 2015, the reforms in Azerbaijan have been further deepened and they in fact reached a new level. As a result of the country's economic reforms, the financial stability and economic growth in many areas were restored, especially a significant progress has been made in the agricultural, nonoil and other sectors. The position of Azerbaijan in the report shows that the ongoing reforms reflect the interests of all sectors of society, including business entities.

The country takes great steps in its intention to diversify the national economy on the basis of further development of the non-oil sector.

To put into effect this plan, the government does its best to encourage business doing in the country and to support entrepreneurs through creating necessary conditions for the development of a healthy business environment.

In order to stimulate the business development in the country, the Azerbaijani government creates favorable conditions for entrepreneurs.

One of these steps is the suspension of inspections. During the validity period of the law, only tax audits, quality control of medicines by relevant executive authorities, verification of compliance with safety regulations and safety control of food products, as well as checks on cases that threaten the health and life of people, national security and economic interests may be carried out.

Moreover, the government creates many other favorable conditions such as issuance of the investment incentives documents following the approval of amendments proposed to the Tax Code of the country.

Under the investment incentives document, half of the revenue of an individual entrepreneur, profits of legal entity are exempted from income tax for seven years. Import of equipment for the implementation of the projects is also exempt of VAT and customs duties.

Also, the state refunds 3-6 percent of the customs value of goods to non-oil exporters within the framework of mechanisms on promoting exports of non-oil products.