Belarus moves up in Doing Business Report – 2009
WASHINGTON – Belarus moved up from the 115th to the 85th place in Doing Business report annually released by the World Bank. Economies are ranked annually on their ease of doing business, from 1 – 181, with first place being the best. In the report released earlier this month Belarus is considered to be a top reformer in Eastern Europe & Asia along with Azerbaijan, Albania, the Kyrgyzstan.
The Doing Business report praised the country as the world top reformer in registering property. The report illustrates how the local entrepreneurs in Minsk benefited from the reforms:
Comparing the registry a few years back and today is like night and day. From waiting in long lines taking up to a few months, we went to a modern, efficient one-stop shop. They even have a webcam in the one-stop shop to check the waiting line," says Alexander, a seasoned entrepreneur in Minsk.
However, Belarus still has the most complicated and business-unfriendly tax system in the world. The country keeps the very last place in this ranking. Worldbank.org posted the full text of the report as well as the updated ranking.
New York Times on Chechens fleeing to Europe via Belarus
A recent New York Times article describes atrocities committed by Kadyrov regime in Chechnya. According to a former an exile Chechen, he and his family were able to flee to the European Union through Belarus with a $20 bribe:
That November, using a counterfeit passport bought with bribe money, Umar Israilov and his wife, Madina Sagiyeva, fled to Belarus. There, he said, he traveled to the border and presented his fake passport and $20 to a Belarussian border guard, who let them cross to Poland, where they asked for asylum.
Full text at nytimes.com.
