ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Friday published a list of ‘Top 20’ reformers in ‘Doing Business 2020’ and included Pakistan in it, praising that the country has improved in six areas measured by doing business.

Pakistan has made improvements in starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders. These measures reflect the country’s development of an ambitious reform strategy, including establishment of national secretariat and prime minister’s reform steering committee.

The World Bank says Pakistan has made starting a business easier by expanding procedures available through the online one-stop shop. In addition to improvements in property registration, obtaining a construction permit has become easier after the Sindh Building Control Authority and the Lahore Development Authority streamlined approval workflows and improved the operational efficiency of their one-stop shops.

The launching of online portals for new commercial connections has made getting electricity easier and tariff changes are announced in advance. Moreover, tax compliance has become easier through online payment modules for value-added tax and corporate income tax and a lower corporate income tax rate.

World Bank says Islamabad has made trading across borders easier

Pakistan has made trading across borders easier by enhancing the integration of various agencies into an electronic system and improving coordination of joint physical inspections at the port, it says.

“With six reforms, Pakistan emerges among top 20 reformers globally in Ease of Doing Business,” World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Patchamuthu Ilango wrote on Twitter.

“Rankings will be released on Oct 24. We laud the collective action of federal, Sindh and Punjab governments for an impressive feat,” he added.

Five countries from Asia — Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar — have been included in the list of top-20 improvers in Doing Business 2020.

The World Bank explains that economies are selected on the basis of the number of reforms and on how much their ease of doing business score improves.

First, Doing Business selects the economies that implement reforms making it easier to do business in three or more of the 10 areas included in this year’s aggregate ease of doing business score. Regulatory changes making it more difficult to do business are subtracted from the number of those making it easier.

Second, Doing Business sorts these economies on the increase in their ease of doing business score due to reforms from the previous years.

The improvement in their score is calculated not by using the data published in 2018 but by using comparable data that capture data revisions and methodology changes when applicable. The choice of the most improved economies is determined by the largest improvements in the ease of doing business score among those with at least three reforms.

While releasing the top-20 improvers in Doing Business 2020, the World Bank says the list does not reflect the best performing or ranked economies, which will be disclosed at the time of ‘Doing Business 2020’ launch on Oct 24.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2019