Russia is Open For Foreign Companies: World Bank

World Bank released a report on Tuesday, where it has stated that it is much easier to do business in Russia than in other emerging market countries, such as China, Brazil or Ukraine.

At the present time Russia occupies 79th place out of 155 countries in terms of freedom to conduct business. It is right behind Romania and one place above Greece. Of the other countries with emerging market economies China occupies 91st place, India 116th, Brazil 119th and Ukraine 124th.

The World Bank also noted positive tendencies in the sphere of reforming Russia?s economy, saying that these tendencies allow speaking of a relative freedom of doing business in the country, especially compared with other states. ?The rate of reforms in Russia has slowed down lately, but it is still progressing faster than in the majority of its competitors among emerging market countries,? WB?s leading economist Simeon Dyankov was quoted by Interfax.

The World Bank reported that in order to open a business in Russia, it is necessary to spend 33 days and go through eight procedures, while a year ago the time was 36 days and nine procedures. In comparison one only needs five days and five procedures in order to open a business in the United States. Russia also lags behind in the sphere of registration of real estate rights, as it takes 52 days for such registration, while in New Zealand the time frame is a mere two days.

At the same time Russia is among the top 10 countries in terms of low expenditures for registering real estate property rights. In Russia the price tag of the registration is only 0.4 percent of the real estate?s price. The worst situation is observed in the sphere of obtaining licenses ? Russia is ranked third last in this sphere.