Nepal third easiest country to do business in South Asia

Nepal is the third easiest country in the South Asia to do business, according to a global report.

The country improved, albeit marginally, in doing business environment and ranked at 105 – out of 189 countries – in the Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises report released here today. However, the rest of the economies have also improved compared to last year, it said, "Last year, Nepal was ranked 103 out of 185 countries."

"Nepal initiated one reform in starting a business by making the business registration online that helped increase its ranking by six positions in that specific indicator," the report prepared by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group said.
Nepal introduced electronic filing of documents, reducing registration time from 15 days to seven, the report said. "Potential investors now have to complete seven procedures and spend 17 days to register their company before starting a business."
In South Asia, it takes an average of 17.2 days to register a company.

Nepal has also improved its ranking in the getting electricity indicators that is one of the ten indicators. In the rest of the indicators Nepal has failed to improve compared to the last year, it added.

The report that ranks economies based on performance in ten indicators –  starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency – covers regulations measured from June 2011 through May 2012.

In South Asia, Sri Lanka topped the ranked with 85 followed by Maldives (95), Nepal (105), Pakistan (110), Bangladesh (130), India (134), Bhutan (141), and Afghanistan (164), the report added.

The IFC has added Libya, Myanmar, San Marino, and South Sudan in this year's report that uses the data sets of indicators of June 2013 except for paying taxes data that refer to January–December 2012.

Singapore is ranked as the top economy in terms of ease of doing business followed by Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the US; Denmark; Malaysia; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; and the UK.