Ease of doing business in Turkey only improves for construction: World Bank

Ease of doing business in Turkey has only improved over the past year in terms of acquiring construction permits, the World Bank's Doing Business Report 2016 has revealed, noting that the ease of doing business has otherwise fallen across the board.

Turkey only registered positive development in the ease of acquiring construction permits across 10 indicators, according to the report, which was released late Oct. 27. 

Overall, Turkey regressed four points to 55th compared to last year's report, as developing countries stepped up their pace of business-friendly reforms over the past year.

Turkey's rank in starting a business fell by six points, in generating electricity by one point, in registering property by one point, in obtaining credit by eight points, in paying taxes by five points, in trading across borders by one point, in enforcing contracts by 19 points and in resolving insolvency by 22 points, the report said.

Meanwhile, there was no change in terms of protecting minority investors, according to the 2016 report.
 
Singapore remains the easiest place to do business, according to the report. The dynamic Asian city state held onto its business-friendly top ranking from last year in the "Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency" report, which covers 189 economies.

There were barely any changes in the report's top 10, according to adjusted data using this year's criteria for both the 2015 and 2016 rankings.

New Zealand remained number two, followed by Denmark (3), South Korea (4), Hong Kong (5), Britain (6) and the United States (7). Sweden moved up a notch to number eight, switching places with Norway. Finland kept its 10th place.

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