Myanmar has eased on the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report, moving down one place to 171st of the 190 economies ranked.
Despite slipping in the overall rankings, the latest report scored Myanmar at 44.21 points, up from 43.91 last year, calculated from a basket of 10 indicators that include the ease of starting a business, getting electricity and protecting minority investors.
Reforms involving property registration and obtaining credit had made it easier to do business in Myanmar over the past year, the report said.
Property registration had become less costly because of a reduction in stamp duty and the adoption of a regulation allowing credit bureaus to be set up had improved access to credit information, it said.
Myanmar ranked lowest among the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with Singapore first (ranked 2nd globally), followed by Malaysia (24), Thailand (26), Brunei (56), Vietnam (68), Indonesia (72), Philippines (113), Cambodia (135) and Laos (141).
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The report, which monitors the ease of doing business for small and medium enterprises, said economies in East Asia and the Pacific had adopted 45 reforms during the past year, bringing to 371 the total enacted in the region since the Doing Business report was launched in 2002.
“As the reform momentum continues building up in the region, those economies which lag behind have the opportunity to learn from the good practices adopted by their neighbors,” said Ms Rita Ramalho, acting director of the World Bank’s Global Indicators Group, which produces the report.
