YEREVAN, October 23. /ARKA/. Armenia has moved 18 places up in the annual ranking «Doing Business – 2013» of the World Bank (WB) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC), and is now the 32nd in the ratings (the 50th the year before).

According to the information released on «Doing Business»' official website, Armenia is between the Netherlands (the 31st) and Belgium (the 33rd) in the new ranking, having left behind France (the 34th), Israel (the 38th), SAR (the 39th) and Spain (the 44th).

Armenia improved its indicators for a number of categories, particularly for «Dealing with Construction Permits» (from the 49th the year before to the 46th now), «Getting Electricity» (from 143rd to 101st), «Protecting Investors» (from the 98th to the 25th), «Paying Taxes» (from 152nd to 108th).

Yet, Armenia's indicators have become poorer on some other topics. In particular, «Starting a Business» (from the 10th place before to the 11th now), «Getting Credit» (from the 38th to the 40th) and «Trading Across Borders» (from the 106th to the 106th).

No changes are recorded for the following categories: «Registering Property» (4th place), «Enforcing Contracts» (the 91st) and «Resolving Insolvency» (the 63rd)
Singapore topped the ranking on Ease of Doing Business for the seventh successive year, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the USA, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Republic of Korea, Georgia and Australia.

Georgia is the leader among post Soviet Union countries (the 9th in the ranking) and is followed by Estonia (21st), Latvia (25th), Lithuania (27th), Armenia (32nd), Kazakhstan (49th), Belarus (58th), Azerbaijan (67th), Kyrgyzstan (70th), Moldova (83rd), Russia (112nd), Ukraine (137th), Tajikistan (141st) and Uzbekistan (154th).

On the whole, Eastern European and Central Asian countries have left behind the countries of Eastern Asia and the Pacific region in the 2012 ranking and have become the second region on ease of doing business after the high-income OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.

The Central African Republic closes the ranking.–0—