Sri Lanka to improve ‘Doing Business Index’ ranking
View(s):The Central Bank (CB) wants to improve the ratings in the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business Index’ ranking for 2013, CB officials said.
“We expect to be somewhere in between 60 to 65th placed this time in the index compiled by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation which is to be released later this year,” C.J.P. Siriwardena, Assistant Governor CB told the Business Times. Sri Lanka was ranked 105 of 183 countries in 2010, improved on it to 98 in 2011 and make tangible progress last year by achieving a ranking of 89.
As the WB focuses on three areas when measuring the ‘ease of doing business’ – namely the number of procedures, the time taken to complete them, and the costs involved, Mr. Siriwardena said areas relating to processes in taxation in EPF and ETF, payments to Colombo Municipal Council as well as Water and Electricity Boards will be made simpler.
He added that last year Sri Lanka improved in many areas – especially in the 10 areas of ‘starting a business’ categorised in the index. “The number of days for a firm to obtain EPF and ETF numbers for their employees which took some 30 days earlier only takes a day now.
This is because the Department of Labour has electronised their systems,” he explained. He said that starting a business in Sri Lanka has reduced from 36 days to six days as a result.
The directive by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2010 on related party disclosures has helped Sri Lanka climb the index last year. Doing Business measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
The WB annually publishes a ranking of over 180 countries on the basis of the ease of doing business in those countries. International investors widely consult this ranking before investing in a country.
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