1

Doing Business 2010:Poland

Neil GregoryAdvisor and Acting Director

Financial & Private Sector Development

Krakow, PolandSeptember 9, 2009

What does Doing Business measure?

Doing Business indicators:

Focus on regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small to medium-sized domestic business.

Are built on standardized case scenarios.

Are measured for the most populous city in each country.

Are focused on the formal sector.

DO NOT measure all aspects of the business environment such as macroeconomic stability, corruption, level of labor skills, proximity to markets, of regulation specific to foreign investment or financial markets.

Why do rankings change?

# 1 reason: reforms DB2010 recorded 287 reforms in 131 economies. Ranking can change because the economy reformed – OR

others did.

Changes to the methodologyOnly one change in DB2010 to methodology of Employing Workers

indicator.

New economy additions Since 2004, Doing Business added 50 economies to the sample (from

133 to 183).

Data revisionsCorrection rate for DB10 was 5.5%. Note: data for previous years are recalculated in case of revisions.

Comparable rankings are published side by side in report.

What's new in Doing Business 2010?

2007175 economies

2008178 economies

2009181 economies

2010183 economies

Starting a business

Dealing with construction permits

Employing workers

Registering property

Getting credit

Protecting investors

Paying taxes

Trading across borders

Enforcing contracts

Closing a business

Update of 2007

Add 3 countries

Reformer’s Club, and 16 case studies

New “About DB” chapter

Trends analysis DB04-DB09

Most popular reforms

Most effective reforms

Lessons learned

Add 3 new countries (Bahamas, Bahrain, Qatar)

Methodology change in Getting Credit (Legal Rights)

Business regulation and reform in the context of the global crisis

EWI and social protection

Researching ILO core labor standards

Piloting a new infrastructure indicator

New insights on gender

Add Cyprus, Kosovo

1. Singapore 16. Finland

2. New Zealand 17. Mauritius

3. Hong Kong, China 18. Sweden

4. United States 19. Korea, Rep.

5. United Kingdom 20. Bahrain

6. Denmark 21. Switzerland

7. Ireland 22. Belgium

8. Canada 23. Malaysia

9. Australia 24. Estonia

10. Norway 25. Germany

11. Georgia 26. Lithuania

12. Thailand 27. Latvia

13. Saudi Arabia 28. Austria

14. Iceland 29. Israel

15. Japan 30. Netherlands

Top 30 on the ease of Doing Business 2010

Key findings in this year’s report

Worldwide the pace of reform picks up to reach a new record: 287 reforms in 131 countries; 20% more than in the year before.

Developing economies lead in DB reforms: Two-thirds of reforms in low- and lower-middle-income economies.

Rwanda is the top reformer: Jumped 76 places in the aggregate rankings, from 143 to 67. Reforms in 7 of the 10 areas.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the fastest reforming region six years in a row: 26 of 27 economies reformed. Reform in ECA is spreading eastward: Albania, Belarus, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Montenegro and Tajikistan continued reforming.

5 of the 10 top reformers are from Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The Middle East and North Africa region sees the largest surge in reforms: 17 of 19 economies reformed in 2008/09.

Top reformers have been consistent, comprehensive, and committed to reform—often implemented within long term strategies.

7

Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the second best performing region in 2008/09

Lowest Rank

Average Rank

Best Rank

Percentage of countries with at least one positive reform

96%

89%

75%

71%63%

59%

63%

High Income OECD

Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Middle East and North Africa

Latin America and

Caribbean

South Asia

East Asia and Pacific

Eastern Europe and Central Asia reformed the most, followed by Middle East and North Africa

The top 10 reformers in 2008/09

Economy

Starting a

business

Dealing with

construction permits

Employing workers

Registering property

Getting credit

Protecting

investors

Paying taxes

Trading across

borders

Enforcing contracts

Closing a business

Rwanda

Kyrgyz Republic

Macedonia FYR

Belarus

United Arab Emirates

Moldova

Colombia

Tajikistan

Egypt, Arab Rep.

Liberia              

Developing economies lead in Doing Business reforms

Consistent reformers continued reform effort

Eastern Europe and Central Asia lead the way in Getting credit reforms with 9 reforms in 2008/09

Online tax filing is now possible in the majority of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Estonia – best ranked country among the EU-10

Czech Republic

Poland

Romania

Slovenia

Hungary

Bulgaria

Slovak Republic

Latvia

Lithuania

Estonia

74

72

55

53

47

44

42

27

26

24

Ranking on the ease of doing business

EU-10 Average

19 reforms in 7 areas in the EU-10

Registering property

Starting a business

Closing a business

Dealing with licenses

Paying taxes Getting credit Trading across borders

5

4

3

2 2 2

1

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Estonia

Latvia

Romania

Bulgaria

Hungary

Poland

Slovenia

Estonia

Lithuania

Poland

Czech Republic

Slovenia

Poland

Czech Republic

Poland

Poland

Latvia

PolandSlovak Rep.

Registering property is the most popular area of reform in the region

Number of reforms by indicator in 2008/09

EU-10 reforms in 2008/09 – Registering property was area with most reforms

Economy

Starting a

business

Dealing with

construction permits

Employing workers

Registering property

Getting

credit

Protecting

investors

Paying taxes

Trading across

borders

Enforcing contracts

Closing a business

Bulgaria          Czech

Republic        

Estonia          

Hungary            

Latvia          

Lithuania            

Poland        

Romania            Slovak

Republic            

Slovenia          

Topic World’s top ranked 2008/09 EU-10’s top ranked in 2008/09

Starting a business New ZealandSlovenia (26)Estonia (37)

Dealing with construction permits

Hong Kong, ChinaEstonia (20)

Slovak Republic (56)

Employing workers AustraliaCzech Republic (25)

Bulgaria (53)

Registering property Saudi ArabiaLithuania (4)

Slovak Republic (11)

Getting credit MalaysiaBulgaria (4)Latvia (4)

Protecting investorsNew Zealand

Slovenia (20)Bulgaria, Poland and Romania

(41)Paying taxes

MaldivesEstonia (38)Latvia (45)

Trading across bordersSingapore

Estonia (3)Latvia (22)

Enforcing contracts LuxembourgHungary (14)Latvia (15)

Closing a business JapanLithuania (36)Slovak (39)

I checked the top ten in every indicator and we just asked them “What did you do”? - Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, Egypt’s Minister of Investment

Starting a business

Dealing with construction

permits

Employing workers

Registering property

Getting credit

Protecting investors

Paying taxes

Trading across borders

Enforcing contracts

Closing a business

EU-10 OECD ECA

EU-10 countries stand out in Getting credit and Registering property

Best 1

Lowest 183

OECD

EU-10

ECA

Average of overall rankings for Doing Business 2010

Example of a successful reform: Czech Republic made registering property faster

Obtain a certified ex-tract from the com-

panies' register

A notary certifies the signatures of the

transfer agreement

Apply for registration at the Cadastral Of-

fice

Pay the Real Estate Transfer Tax

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time to apply for registration at Cadastral Office was reduced from 120 days to 75 days in 2008/09

Procedures

Tim

e (

da

ys)

DB09

DB10

123 days

78 days

Completed reforms inspired and informed by Doing Business

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090

50

100

150

200

250

300

270 completed reforms were inspired by Doing Business

270

Thank you. For more information:www.doingbusiness.org