Economy Profile:

Economy Profile: Uzbekistan 2 Doing Business 2014 Uzbekistan © 2013 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: ; Internet: All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 15 14 13 12 A copublication of The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. Note that The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. 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Cover design: The Word Express 3 Uzbekistan Doing Business 2014 CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 The business environment .......................................................................................................... 5 Starting a business ..................................................................................................................... 14 Dealing with construction permits ........................................................................................... 22 Getting electricity ....................................................................................................................... 36 Registering property .................................................................................................................. 44 Getting credit .............................................................................................................................. 55 Protecting investors ................................................................................................................... 62 Paying taxes ................................................................................................................................ 71 Trading across borders .............................................................................................................. 78 Enforcing contracts .................................................................................................................... 86 Resolving insolvency .................................................................................................................. 96 Employing workers .................................................................................................................. 101 Data notes ................................................................................................................................. 108 Resources on the Doing Business website ............................................................................ 114 4 Doing Business 2014 INTRODUCTION Uzbekistan Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers. In a series of annual reports Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The data set covers 47 economies in Sub Saharan Africa, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 25 in East Asia and the Pacific, 25 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and North Africa and 8 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD high income economies. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for Uzbekistan. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2013 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period January–December 2012). The Doing Business methodology has limitations. Other areas important to business—such as an economy’s proximity to large markets, the quality of its infrastructure services (other than those related to trading across borders and getting electricity), the security of property from theft and looting, the transparency of government procurement, macroeconomic conditions or the underlying strength of institutions—are not directly studied by Doing Business. The indicators refer to a specific type of business, generally a local limited liability company operating in the largest business city. Because standard assumptions are used in the data collection, comparisons and benchmarks are valid across economies. The data not only highlight the extent of obstacles to doing business; they also help identify the source of those obstacles, supporting policy makers in designing regulatory reform. More information is available in the full report. Doing Business 2014 presents the indicators, analyzes their relationship with economic outcomes and presents business regulatory reforms. The data, along with information on ordering Doing Business 2014, are available on the Doing Business website at . 5 Doing Business 2014 Uzbekistan THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers trying to improve their economy’s regulatory environment for business, a good place to start is to find out how it compares with the regulatory environment in other economies. Doing Business provides an aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business based on indicator sets that measure and benchmark regulations applying to domestic small to medium-size businesses through their life cycle. Economies are ranked from 1 to 189 by the ease of doing business index. For each economy the index is calculated as the ranking on the simple average of its percentile rankings on each of the 10 topics included in the index in Doing Business 2014: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. The ranking on each topic is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its component indicators (see the data notes for more details). The employing workers indicators are not included in this year’s aggregate ease of doing business ranking, but the data are presented in this year’s economy profileк The aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business benchmarks each economy’s performance on the indicators against that of all other economies in the Doing Business sample (figure 1.1). While this ranking tells much about the business environment in an economy, it does not tell the whole story. The ranking on the ease of doing business, and the underlying indicators, do not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors or that affect the competitiveness of the economy. Still, a high ranking does mean that the government has created a regulatory environment conducive to operating a business. ECONOMY OVERVIEW Region: Europe & Central Asia Income category: Lower middle income Population: 29,776,850 GNI per capita (US$): 1,720 DB2014 rank: 146 DB2013 rank: 156* Change in rank: 10 DB 2014 DTF: 48.44 DB 2013 DTF: 46.64 Change in DTF: 1.84 * DB2013 ranking shown is not last year’s published ranking but a comparable ranking for DB2013 that captures the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. See the data notes for sources and definitions. 6 Doing Business 2014 Uzbekistan THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.1 Where economies stand in the global ranking on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database. 7 Doing Business 2014 Uzbekistan THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers, knowing where their economy stands in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business is useful. Also useful is to know how it ranks relative to comparator economies and relative to the regional average (figure 1.2). The economy’s rankings on the topics included in the ease of doing business index provide another perspective (figure 1.3). Figure 1.2 How Uzbekistan and comparator economies rank on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database.