April 05, 2019, 15:05 / Economy / News

Putin postponed the deadline for Russia to enter the top 20 of the Doing Business rating

President Vladimir Putin gave repeated instructions to ensure that Russia reaches 20th place in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking, reports Interfax , citing a source in the government’s financial and economic bloc. Putin already gave such an order in the May 2012 decrees - it was supposed to be implemented before 2018.

The Ministry of Economic Development has initiated the President’s order to raise Russia’s position in the Doing Business ranking to 20th place by 2024, a ministry representative confirmed to Vedomosti. The Ministry of Economic Development will prove previously implemented measures that were not taken into account by the World Bank, for example, reducing the time required for preparing and paying taxes, says a representative of the ministry. Also, the World Bank did not take into account reforms in the areas of “Protection of Minority Shareholders” and “International Trade”, and simplification of property registration, he continues. New measures to increase indicators in the ranking will be implemented under the “Transformation of the Business Climate” project (a plan for improving business conditions), says a representative of the Ministry of Economic Development.

The Doing Business rating is the most authoritative indicator of the development of the investment climate in the world. At the time of the 2012 presidential decree, Russia was in 120th place. By 2018, it was not possible to solve the task set by Putin: so far Russia has stopped at 31st place.

According to the new presidential order, Russia should take 20th place in the ranking by 2024, the agency’s interlocutor noted.

A representative of the Ministry of Economic Development told Interfax that since 2011, Russia remains the only country that has shown such a noticeable increase in the rating - by 89 positions. The agency’s interlocutor noted that the agency will work to ensure that World Bank experts take into account the reforms carried out, but not yet confirmed. We are talking about reducing the time required for preparing and paying three main taxes, the current legal regulation in the area of “Protection of minority shareholders”, simplification in the field of property registration and international trade.