Nepal slips to 99 in ease of doing business

Kathmandu Oct 29, 2015- Nepal has performed poorly in making things easier for entrepreneurs to do business in the country. According to the World Bank Doing Business 2016 report released on Wednesday, Nepal has slipped five spots to the 99th position among the 189 countries surveyed for ease of doing business.

Nepal was placed second after Bhutan among South Asian countries. Bhutan came in the 71st place in the global rankings. According to the report, Nepal is ahead of India (at number 130), Pakistan (138), Bangladesh (174), Sri Lanka (107), Afghanistan (177) and Maldives (128).

 

In 2014, Nepal was placed in the 108th position, and in 2015, it came in the 94th position. The doing business survey measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

The report showed that starting a business in Nepal requires seven procedures, takes 17 days and costs 28.40 percent of income per capita. Nepal stands at the 105th position in the global rankings with regard to the ease of starting a business. Among the 10 areas of the life of a business, Nepal has shown improvement in only two indexes—dealing with construction permits and registering property.

The country has shown poor performance particularly in four indexes—resolving insolvency, getting credit, getting electricity and protecting minority investors. This has pulled Nepal down in the overall rankings, the report said. Source: TKP