Between July 2011 and June 2012, the period surveyed in the report, lending in Romania became more accessible as a result of extending the range of securities that can be used as guarantees. Also, procedures for creating a company in Romania were simplified by reducing the time needed to obtain a fiscal record from the tax authority.
To determine the ease of doing business in the countries surveyed in the report, the World Bank is analyzing ten general indicators. In this year’s report, Romania fares worse when it comes to the ease of obtaining a construction permit, access to electricity, property registration, access to lending, investor protection, the ease with which contract clauses can be imposed and insolvency regulation. However, Romania fares better when it comes to the payment of taxes and international trade.
Romania ranks 12th among the 185 countries under survey when it comes to access to lending even if it was outranked at this category by four countries, compared with last year’s report.
According to the report, the ease of launching a new business ranks Romania at 68th, compared to its 63rd position in last year’s report. Creating a company in Romania requires six procedures, same as last year, but the number of days needed to set up a business was reduced from 14 to ten. Also, costs with starting up a business fell from 3% of the average annual income per capita to 2.8%. The annual average income considered by the World Bank for Romania is $7,910.
Romania fell three places to 168, from 165 in last year’s report, as regards access to electricity. Connection to the power grid still requires seven procedures, it takes 223 days and related costs rose from 556.9% of the annual average income per capita to 584.2%.
The report also says Romania ranks 136th in the world in terms of the payment of taxes for companies, compared to its 154th position in last year’s report. The number of payments per year was reduced from 113 to 41 and the number of hours was reduced from 222 to 216. Companies ultimately transfer 44.2% of their profit to the state, down by 0.2 percentage points from 44.4% last year.
The ease of obtaining a construction permit ranks Romania at 129 in the world, compared to its 123rd position last year. One permit requires 15 steps, compared to 16 steps a year ago, it still takes 223 days and its cost rose from 73% to 79.1% of the annual average income per capita.
Insolvency regulation has worsened compared to the previous year and Romania fell five spots to 102. A bankruptcy takes three years and four months to solve and it costs 11% of the company’s asset value, while creditors’ receivable recovery rate rose from 28.6 cents per dollar to 29.2 cents, the report also says.
In terms of property registration, Romania fell two places to 72. Property registration requires eight procedures, same as last year, it takes 26 days and costs 1.2% of the property value.
Regarding international trade, Romania saw no changes, according to the report. Export still requires five documents, takes 12 days and costs $1,485 per container, while import requires six documents, takes 13 days and costs $1,495.
The ease with which contract clauses can be imposed ranks Romania at 60 in the world, compared to its 56th position last year. A company needs to follow 32 procedures to this end, compared to 31 previously, over a 512-day period, same as last year, and spend 28.9% of the receivable it is trying to recover.
In terms of investor protection, Romania fell three spots to 49, but, despite this, company shareholders continue to enjoy high transparency.