Greek Reporter — Greece ranks 67th in the “Ease of Doing Business 2018” report in a total of 190 countries, when last year was in 61st place.
In this year’s World Bank report, released on Tuesday, Greece lags behind other neighbouring countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or countries whose economies have similar characteristics to those of Greece. in the ease of doing business.
Despite efforts made in recent years to reduce bureaucracy, simplify procedures and facilitate business, the business environment has deteriorated and taxes have increased. According to the report, a company in Greece pays 51.7% of profits on taxes and levies, which in the last year’s report was 50.7%. The corresponding average in developed OECD countries is 40.1%.
Additionally, 193 work hours, on average, are needed for a business to deal with its various tax obligations.
Greece ranks 67th while Albania is in 65th place, Turkey in 60th, Cyprus in 53rd, Bulgaria in 50th place, Italy in 46th place, Romania in 45th, Serbia in 43rd, Portugal in 29th place and Spain in 28th place. Neighboring FYROM is in 11th place, dropping one place from 10th last year.
Greece is also behind countries such as Slovakia (39th), Slovenia (37th), Czech Republic (30th), Portugal (29th), Poland (27th), Latvia (19th) , Ireland (17th) and Estonia (12th).
More specifically, in the particular sectors, Greece scored as follows:
– Start of new business: 37th place –an improvement of 19 places from last year
– Management of construction licenses: 58th place
– Getting electric power: 76th
– Real estate registration: 145th place
– Securing credit: 90th place
– Protection of minority investors: 43th place
– Payment of taxes: 65th place
– Cross-border trade: 29th place
– Payment of contracts: 131st place
– Settlement of bankruptcies: 57th place
