According to the “Doing Business 2009” report, released Wednesday, Vietnam is 92nd out of 181 economies in the list, down from 87th position last year.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam ranks 5^th in the ease of doing business, after Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei.

“We (Vietnam) have strived to improve business environment, but some other countries have done better than us,” local economist Pham Chi Lan said during a video-conference in Hanoi on the launch of the report.

Despite the fall in Vietnam’s overall position in the ranking, in some areas measured by the survey the country’s position improved or remained the same, Lan said. In the 10 indicators of business regulation, Vietnam’s performance declined in six areas, improved in two and was unchanged in two.

In the “starting a business” section, Vietnam ranked 108th, an improvement on last year’s ranking of 101. In the cost of starting a business section, the figure fell to 16.8 percent of per capita gross national income from 20 percent in last year’s survey. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average in this year’s report was 4.9 percent.

The number of days required to start a business in Vietnam was 50, compared to the average of the 30 members of the OECD of 13.4, the report found. The number of procedures required to start a business in Vietnam was 11, compared to the OECD average of 5.8, the report said.

Lan said Vietnam had made progress in the fields of tax procedures, investor protection and obtaining credit.

The IFC-World Bank report said Vietnam’s public credit registry now kept information for a longer period and had started to provide financial institutions with more data on potential borrowers’ repayment history and debt capacity.

However, reforms of Vietnam’s business environment had been slow and the effectiveness of legal implementation limited, said Tran Huu Huynh, head of the Legal Department under the Vietnam Chamber for Commerce and Industry.

Some other countries, which, like Vietnam, had shifted from a command economy to market economy, had made quicker reforms and much better improvement in the global ease of doing business ranking, Huynh said.

He also urged the authors of next year’s report to interview more people in more sectors to get a better picture of Vietnam’s business environment.

The 10 indicators of business regulation the report examines track the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes and closing a business.

Overall, Singapore topped the list for a third consecutive year, followed by New Zealand and the US China’s

Hong Kong retained fourth place. Of the leading Asian economies, Thailand advanced to 13 and Malaysia to 20.

Among the world regions, Eastern Europe and Central Asia led the world in reforms for a fifth consecutive year while East Asia and the Pacific had the greatest momentum in reforming business regulations this year, the report found.

Among the world’s largest economies, Japan held steady at number 12 from last year, while Germany fell to 25 from 20, China rose to 83 from 90 and Britain was unchanged in the sixth position. France moved up one spot to number 31.

Among rapidly growing emerging economies, Russia fell nine places to 120th place and India slipped two notches to number 122.

Saudi Arabia was the best performer in the Middle East, moving up to the 16th spot from 24, ahead of Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

“Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use and accessible to all who use them. Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers and where workers lack the protection of labor law,” said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC vice president for financial development.

The report also looked at countries’ progress in making regulatory reforms that enhance business operations.

Azerbaijan is this year’s leading reformer, and jumped to 33 on the list from 96 last year, followed by Albania, at 86 from 135, and Kyrgyzstan, at 68 from 99.

“Among the large emerging markets, China led the way – reforms there make it easier to access credit, pay taxes, and enforce contracts,” the World Bank said.

The 185-nation development lender also highlighted Africa’s “record year for regulatory reforms,” saying 28 countries had completed 58 reforms in the criteria studied.

Still, nine of the 10 most difficult countries to do business were African, with Venezuela the sole exception.

In descending order, the worst were Niger, Eritrea, Venezuela, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Source: Thanhniennews