Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / The Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan is dissatisfied with the assessment of Country's reforms in the Doing Business 2008-the fifth in an annual series issued by the World Bank and IFC. The Head of the Ministry's Entrepreneurship Development Department, Samir Nuriyev, said that the dissatisfaction regards the measures on business registration, especially taxpayer's account of VAT.
"The registration of the VAT exist in all CIS countries, but the WB and IFC does not take it into consideration with regards to Georgia. There are many such small moments, but as a result, it affects Azerbaijan's ranking," he said. According to him, the Ministry intends to continue work with the WB and IFC in this regard in order to present its testimonies on the progress.
Doing Business 2008 ranks 178 economies on the ease of doing business based on 10 indicators of business regulation. Singapore, for the second year, tops the aggregate rankings across 178 economies.
According to assessments by the WB and IFC, the ranking of Azerbaijan improved compared to 2006 and this year the country rose to 96th place. Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Uzbekistan improved their positions in the ranking of the World Bank while the positions of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Tajikistan worsened.