Reforms on doing business

Kosovo continues with the reform process to improve business environment according to World Bank Report on Doing Business 2020

The World Bank Report on Doing Business 2020, published on October 24, 2019, confirms Kosovo's gradual and sustainable progress towards creating a favourable business climate and attracting investment in our country.

Special progress has been made in four areas:

  • PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS:  due to the entry into force of the Law on Business Organizations, which increases the legal protection of small corporate investors, increases the transparency and controls on transactions with conflicts of interest.
  • DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS:  due to the elimination of the requirement to notify the municipal authority of the commencement of construction and acceptance of the site inspection.
  • GETTING ELECTRICITY:  due to the improved electricity supply as a result of investments in a grid infrastructure and for implementing an automated system for monitoring directly the electricity and restoration of services.
  • ENFORCING CONTRACTS:  due to the adoption of the new law on mediation.

Progress in these areas has made Kosovo recognized by the World Bank as one of the 20 most reformed countries in the Doing Business Report 2020

https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/reforms/top-20-reformers-in-db2020

Though, in 2020 report, Kosovo has fallen in ranking position to 57th (from 44th that was in 2019), the difference in ranking between these two years is not fully comparable due to methodological and data differences, which was done retroactively by the World Bank for several years.

Progress made by Kosovo is evident, from data analysis taken from the report showing that Kosovo has achieved a plus (+) 2.2% in facilitating doing business and has made progress on 7 out of 10 indicators in total.

Regarding the two indicators directly supervised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the indicators Starting a Business and Protecting Small Investors, Starting a Business has improved by 0.2%, while for Protecting Small Investors there was 8% improvement.

As already noted, changes in the rankings from 2019 to 2020 are not fully comparable due to the methodological changes made by the World Bank, which specifically affect the indicator of the Small Investor Protection.

Since the beginning of the reform process based on the World Bank Report on Doing Business, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo has consistently emphasized the importance of gradual and sustained progress in improving the business environment and using this methodology as a platform for identification and implementation of fundamental reforms that improve the ease of doing business in our country.

As it has been continuously emphasized, Kosovo's progress in the World Bank`s ranking for Doing Business will be more and more challenging due to the conprehensive nature of the reforms that must be undertaken in order that Kosovo  make even greater progress and compete with the most effective states in this field.

The Doing Business report 2020 assesses the ease of doing business in 190 countries.

For more information download the official report at this link: https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/kosovo