The Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication Center dedicated the latest issue of the “Azerbaijan Economic Reforms Review” to reforms reflected in the “Doing Business” report. It was noted that Azerbaijan consistently strengthens its position in the “Doing Business” report prepared by the World Bank, moving to higher rankings.

The report also provides extensive information on the reforms conducted under “Doing Business.” It was stated that the reforms carried out in 2018, which will be reflected in the “Doing Business-2019” report, aim to strengthen Azerbaijan’s position in areas such as starting a business, obtaining construction permits, connecting to electricity networks, registering property, obtaining credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, conducting foreign trade, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

The report notes that, under the indicator “Obtaining construction permits,” Azerbaijan improved its position by reducing the number of procedures for obtaining permits for construction and operation of buildings to 10. Construction projects were divided into those requiring and not requiring expertise, and the list of projects not requiring expertise was expanded. In this area, technical conditions are now obtained in ASAN Service centers with a single request under the “Single Window” principle.

It was highlighted that significant reforms were carried out in the electricity connection indicator. For entrepreneurship projects up to 150 kW, technical conditions for connection to the existing 0.4 kV network are now provided by Azərişıq ASC through ASAN Kommunal and ASAN Service centers within a maximum of 24 days, regardless of the region. It is worth noting that in many developed countries, connecting a business to electricity takes months, while in Azerbaijan the process was reduced from 69 to 24 days. Another innovation in this area was the reduction of procedures under the single-window system from 7 to 3. Another advantage for entrepreneurs is the electronic processing of operations, minimizing contact with officials.

Under the indicator for obtaining credit, new measures were introduced for entrepreneurs this year. As a result of incentive measures carried out by the relevant state bodies, the first Private Credit Bureau was established in Azerbaijan. Banks, non-bank credit institutions, and mobile and utility service operators act as data providers. Scoring and other systems have also been implemented.

In addition, the Movable Property Registry was created under the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority. These reforms have increased entrepreneurs’ access to financial resources and expanded the customer base for credit organizations.

Significant work was carried out for seven other indicators in the report, making it easier to conduct business in the country.

It is noted that the special edition of the review can be accessed in all three languages via this link:

http://iqtisadiislahat.org/store//media/documents/Doing%20business/DOING_BUSINESS_AZE.pdf

According to the Doing Business 2018 report prepared by the World Bank, Azerbaijan advanced 8 positions, moving from 65th to 57th among 190 countries, and was identified as one of the top 3 reformist countries in the Europe and Central Asia region.