News

Lithuania is 3 steps up, moving from 26th to 23rd position, in the newest Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs world ranking, published by IFC and the World Bank. Also, Lithuania stands No. 8 in the EU economies ranking.

EU Ranking

* Singapore is shown as a benchmark.

Lithuania has made biggest improvements in the categories of Starting a Business (rank No. 87; 11 positions up) and Paying Taxes (rank No. 44; 6 positions up), and is listed among 6 European economies (including Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden) which improved in three or more areas covered by the report.

Globally, doing business remains easiest in the high-income economies of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and most difficult in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Singapore leads the world in the ease of doing business for the fifth year running, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the US. Kazakhstan took top honors for the most-improved business environment in the past year.

World Bank report, which ranks 183 economies on key aspects of business regulation for domestic firms, discloses that 117 economies carried out 216 regulatory reforms aimed at making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening transparency and property rights, and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures. The report also shows that about 85 % of the world's economies have made it easier for entrepreneurs to operate in the past five years.