In the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business rankings, the top 10 economies are New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark, which retain their first, second and third spots, respectively, for a second consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong SAR, China; Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; United States; United Kingdom and FYR Macedonia. The Czech Republic ranks 35th.

Europe and Central Asia hosts two of the world’s top 10 economies this year, with Georgia moving up to 6th place (from 9th last year), and FYR Macedonia edging up one spot to 10th place. The region also hosts two of this year’s top improvers, Azerbaijan and Turkey. The pace of reforms accelerated in the region, with 54 reforms implemented during the past year, compared with a revised number of 43 reforms the previous year. While reforms in the region covered all areas of Doing Business, many improvements focused on easing construction permitting and cross border trade.

Dealing with construction permits  is still assessed as a major bottleneck in the Czech Republic (156th place for this sub-category).

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