Iran has improved its status in the Doing Business report of the World Bank which is released annually based on 10 factors, such as conditions for starting a business, protecting investors, paying taxes, and trading across borders.
Fars news agency quoted the World Bank''s Doing Business 2009 report as in the past year, Iran has advanced five places in the Doing Business ranking, conditions for starting a business have improved, and dealing with construction permits has been expedited.
The Doing Business report provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies.
Iran ranks 14 among Middle Eastern countries and 137 in the world in the Ease of Doing Business ranking, the report said.
Regarding the Starting a Business factor, Iran has advanced 25 places in the ranking, reaching 48th place in 2010 from 73rd in 2009.
The challenges of launching a business are the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.
Getting construction permits in Iran has improved by 23 places, reaching the 141st rank in 2010 from 164th in 2009.
In regard to the Employing Workers factor, Iran is in the 137th place, with no change compared to 2009.
Iran's global ranking in getting loans is 113. The country was in the 109th rank last year.
Iran has come down one place on Protecting Investors factor in 2010, ranking 165th worldwide.
Transparency of transactions (Extent of Disclosure Index), liability for self-dealing (Extent of Director Liability Index), shareholders' ability to sue officers and directors for misconduct (Ease of Shareholder Suits Index) and Strength of Investor Protection Index, are the indicators of Protecting Investors factor.
Paying taxes in Iran is above the region's average.
Regarding the Trading across Borders factor, export from Iran takes more time than the regional average. Iran''s ranking is 134 compared to its 2009 ranking of 132.
The costs and procedures involved in importing and exporting a standardized shipment of goods are detailed under this topic.
The Enforcing Contracts factor places Iran in the 53rd spot, compared to the 54th in 2009.
The ease or difficulty of enforcing commercial contracts is determined by the evolution of a payment dispute and tracking the time, cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment a plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment.