Lithuania moves up in World Bank’s Doing Business report

The study has been presented by the World Bank Group every year since 2003.

Lithuania, together with the Republic of Macedonia, this year entered the list of the economies with the most business-friendly regulation.

For the registering property topic, along with Denmark, Lithuania is among those that combine high efficiency and high quality. Supporting this efficiency is a high-quality land administration system. Property records are fully digital and provide complete coverage of private land in Lithuania.

Thirteen economies strengthened minority investor protections in 2014/15. Lithuania adopted amendments to its Law on Stock Companies that prohibit subsidiaries from acquiring and owning shares issued by their parent company, resulting in greater clarity of ownership and interests.

Also, Lithuania made starting a business easier by introducing online VAT registration. The utility in Lithuania reduced the time required to get an electricity connection by enforcing the legal time limit for completing the external connection works.

The report finds that entrepreneurs in 122 economies saw improvements in their local regulatory framework last year. Costa Rica, Uganda, Kenya, Cyprus, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Senegal and Benin are among the economies that improved the most in 2014/2015.

Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 13th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies-from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe-and over time.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: 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. Doing Business also measures labour market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking.