In the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings released on Tuesday, Myanmar ranks 171th out of 190 countries in the overall ease of doing business, one place lower than its 171th ranking last year.

The country occupies a position between Sudan (170) and Liberia (172). It remains the lowest-ranked ASEAN member and, with the exception of Timor-Leste, the worst-ranked country in East Asia and the Pacific region. It is also the fourth lowest-ranked country in Asia, after Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Timor.

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1-190. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.

This is the second consecutive year where Myanmar has seen a drop in its ranking. The country made notable improvements earlier, leaping from 182nd in the 2014 report to 167th two years later. However, it fell back to 170th last year and is now ranked 171th.

Vice President U Myint Swe said on July 20 that the government aims to raise the ranking from 170 to less than 100 within the next three years. Since Myanmar has in fact numerically deteriorated in the index instead of making great leaps, it remains to be seen how the target can be achieved.

World Bank indicators

The World Bank rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic.

Roughly speaking, Myanmar fell one place. But the report is based on 10 topics and it is important to look at which areas we are being downgraded.

– U Than Aung Kyaw, DICA 

“We have to study the improvement and deterioration of individual topics,” Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) deputy director general U Than Aung Kyaw told The Myanmar Times.

The Myanmar Times compared Myanmar’s performance in all 10 areas in the last report and the latest one. The ranking declined in seven out of 10 areas.

The country has only improved in one topic, “registering property”, moving from 143th to 134th. In “Resolving insolvency” and “Enforcing contracts”, it has remained 164th and 188th respectively.

For the rest — the seven areas — the country has moved down the ranks, including starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes and trading across borders.

Apart from Myanmar, ASEAN countries which have been downgraded are the Philippines (from 99th to 113rd), Cambodia (from 131st to 135th) and Laos (from 139th to 141st).

In contrast, other ASEAN countries have improved their places – Malaysia (from 26th to 24th), Thailand (from 46th to 26th), Brunei (from 72nd to 56th), Vietnam (from 82nd to 68th) and Indonesia (from 99th to 72nd), while Singapore snatched the runner-up position, behind New Zealand.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-slips-business-ranking-despite-what-govt-says.html