Bhutan drops in doing business
Though doing business in Bhutan is better than many South Asian countries such as India or Pakistan, the overall raking of Bhutan has dropped by three points this year compared to last year.
According to the World Bank´s report ‘Doing Business 2015 released on Wednesday, Bhutan dropped from 122 to 125 mainly due to processes and glitches in enforcing contracts. Sri Lanka tops the region with overall raking of 99 followed by Nepal (108), Maldives (116), Bhutan (125), Pakistan (128), India (142), Bangladesh (173) and Afghanistan (183).
Starting a business in Bhutan requires 8 procedures, takes 17 days, costs 4.4 percent of income per capita and requires no paid-in minimum capital. Similarly, dealing with construction permits here requires 21 procedures, takes 150 days and costs 1.3 percent of the warehouse value while getting electricity requires 5 procedures, takes 74 days and costs 606.5 percent of income per capita.
Registering property requires 3 procedures, takes 92 days and costs 5 percent of the property value. The economy has a score of 6 on the depth of credit information index and a score of 4 on the strength of legal rights index in terms of getting credit. Higher scores indicate more credit information and stronger legal rights for borrowers and lenders.
Exporting a standard container of goods requires 9 documents, takes 38 days and costs $2230. Importing the same container of goods requires 11 documents, takes 37 days and costs $2330. Contract enforcement takes 225 days, costs 23.1percent of the value of the claim and requires 47 procedures.
Bhutan receives a no practice mark for resolving insolvency, indicating that in each of the previous 5 years there were no cases involving a judicial reorganization, judicial liquidation or debt enforcement procedure.
There are 10 doing business indicators in the report prepared by surveying 189 economies worldwide. According to the report, Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business.
Other countries in the list of top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulatory environments are New Zealand; Hong Kong SAR, China, Denmark, the Republic of Korea, Norway, the United States, the United Kingdom, Finland and Australia.
Bhutan scores:
Starting a business – 3
Dealing with construction permits – 5
Getting electricity – 1
Registering property – 2
Getting credit – 2
Protecting minority investors – 6
Paying taxes – 3
Trading across borders – 6
Enforcing contracts – 1
Resolving insolvency – 8
Total Distance from Frontiers (DTF) score – 54.47
Click here to read the full report on Bhutan
Click here to read the full global report