Doing business in Greece gets ever harder, data shows
Greece has slipped further in the international competitiveness chart in terms of starting an enterprise, dropping five more places this year in the list of countries surveyed for the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report.
This country’s scores have headed south in all but one field examined, to end up 72nd in the world.
It seems that doing business in Greece is becoming more difficult with every year that passes. The country’s score slipped 0.12 percentage points, allowing five other states to overtake it.
Greece is now below countries including Rwanda, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Albania, just as Cyprus has reached 57th place and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia now ranks 10th. New Zealand stayed on top.
Although Greece has made progress as far as issuing building permits is concerned, it has upped – at the expense of citizens and corporations – the number of documents required for registering real estate property, without implementing the improvements announced for starting a business and simplifying export procedures.
The Doing Business 2019 report gave Greece 68.08 points out of 100, down from 67th place a year earlier with 68.20 points. Once again Greece is among the least attractive European Union states for entrepreneurs, as it is second to bottom on entrepreneurship, only above Malta.
Countries that rival Greece, such as those in the Balkans and in the European South, rank far higher, with Portugal in 34th place, Serbia in 48th and Romania in 52nd.
Greece’s worst score is in registering a property, where this country ranks 153rd out of 190 states, down from 145th last year. This is because the process in question also requires the presentation of one more document – the certificate of no Real Estate Property Levy (TAP) debts – which has cost the country 2.08 points.
Corporate funding has also become harder to get, with Greece sliding from 90th to 99th position.
In contrast, Greece has improved its position regarding the issuing of construction licenses, rising from 58th to 39th place.
