Romania falls 7 places in World Bank’s Doing Business ranking as starting a business becomes more challenging

Romania descended seven places in World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report because it made starting a business more cumbersome by introducing fiscal risk assessment criteria for value added tax applications.

Romania ranked 45^th in Doing Business 2018 report but descended on the 52^nd place in the world in the fresh 2019 report, based on the evolutions seen in 2017/2018.

“Romania made starting a business more cumbersome by introducing fiscal risk assessment criteria for value added tax applications, thereby increasing the time required to register as a value added tax payer,” the report says.

The report considers 10 criteria for each country: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.

Romania is considered the best country in the world in terms of trading across borders, with the highest score (100), and ranks also well in terms of enforcing contracts (17^th place), and getting credit (22nd).

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But the Eastern European nation ranks worse in terms of getting electricity (154th), dealing with construction permits (146th) and starting a business (111th) due to bureaucratic procedures.

The average score of Romania in terms of doing business ease declined by 0.53 points to 72.3 points.

In the EU, Romania is considered a better place to do business than Hungary (53rd), Croatia (58th), Bulgaria (59th), Luxembourg (66th) and Greece (72nd) but worse than all other member states.

The best countries for business in the world are New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, according to the report.