Belarus took the 38th position among 190 countries in the World Bank's annual Doing Business-2018 rating. According to a similar report published in October last year, Belarus held 37th place.

"In comparison with last year, the change is not very large - a decrease by one position. This decrease is due to the fact that other countries have made more active reform efforts,” explained the co-author of the World Bank study Valentine Saltane. "This year there was almost no change in the methodology."

The new report takes into account the reforms carried out between June 2, 2016 and June 1, 2017. In this period, the authors of the study took into account one reform for the indicator "Crediting": the creation of a register of movable property encumbered with a pledge.

Belarus has participated in the World Bank's Doing Business research since 2005. In its first rating, Belarus ranked 106th among other 150 countries. Thanks to the reforms, the country rose to the 38th place out of 190 countries, which is a good indicator, Valentina Saltane noted.

The report provides a ranking of countries on the key aspects of regulatory and legal regulation of entrepreneurial activities for national companies. The rating is based on 10 indicators: the complexity of registering a new business, obtaining construction permits, connecting to the electricity supply system, property registration and others.

According to the World Bank, conditions for doing business on such indicators as "Obtaining construction permits" have been improved in Belarus - Belarus moved to 22nd place from the 28th, "Taxation" - 96th place (in the report of 2017 - 99), “Resolving Insolvency”- 68th place (69),« Protection of minority investors »- 40th place (42),« Crediting »- 90th place (101). According to the criterion "Registration of property" the position of Belarus remained unchanged - 5th place (5).

Belarus' neighbors in Doing Business-2018 rankings are located as follows: Lithuania - on the 16th place, Latvia - on the 19th, Poland - on the 27th, Russia - on the 35th, Ukraine - on the 76th.

In the global ranking the leading position for the second consecutive year is New Zealand. Singapore comes next. The top ten countries with the most favorable conditions for business activity also include  Denmark, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China), the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Georgia and Sweden.