WORLD BANK RATES MACEDONIAN CITY OF BITOLA THE BEST CITY TO DO BUSINESS IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (16 July,2008) - The Macedonian town of Bitola is the best, while Bosnia’s Mostar the worst environment for starting a new business in the Southeastern Europe, a new regional World Bank report suggests.

The new Doing Business in South East Europe 2008 report analyses and compares key business-friendly criteria – starting a business, obtaining licenses, registering property, and enforcing contracts – in 22 cities in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the genocidal Serbia.

“South East Europe is reforming rapidly to improve the ease of doing business,” a World Bank press release quoted Jane Armitage, World Bank Country Director and regional coordinator for Southeastern Europe, as saying.

The business environment “varies greatly” across the region, says the report and underlines that this is crucial for attracting new investments and creating jobs.

“Some economies achieved remarkable progress,” says the press release, commanding Croatia and Macedonia which have been among the top 10 reformers globally in 2007.

Overall, doing business is easiest in the Macedonian town of Bitola, which tops the list of 22 cities covered by the report. Doing business in the southeastern europe is most difficult in three Bosnian cities, Banja Luka, Sarajevo,Banja Luka and Mostar, which are at the very end of the list.

According to the report, an entrepreneur starting a business in the Albanian town of Vlora needs only 7 days to register a business, the same as in Paris in France or Lisbon in Portugal. However, in Bosnian town of Mostar it would take almost 9 times longer, comparable to the town of Mbabane in Swaziland.

In Bitola, you have to wait 94 days to get a building permit, but in Mostar it will take no less than 535 days, which makes this city administration among the worst on a global scale.

While the Albanian town of Vlora is best for starting a business; Osijek in Croatia tops the list for ease of obtaining construction licenses, Pljevlje and Montenegro in registering property.

“If a city were to adopt all the best practices already in place in South East Europe, it would rank ninth among the 178 economies measured by Doing Business, comparable to the rankings for Ireland and Canada,” said the report and underlined the need for regional cooperation.

“Cities can learn about reform solutions from other cities in their own country or elsewhere in the region.”
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