By Zahrah Imtiaz
The World Bank's Doing Business Index (DBI) 2015 reported that Sri Lanka's ranking for this year had improved to 99 (out of 189) when compared to the rank of 105 last year.
In simple terms it means it is now easier for businesses to start and flourish this year when compared to last, but Path Finder Foundation, Executive Director Lakshman Siriwardena said the improvement needed to be contextualized and that in reality nothing much has changed. "It is not that we have improved but that other countries have become worse. As the ranking takes weighted averages of all countries, we have simply moved up without doing much," he said.
Siriwardena said real improvement would be when Sri Lanka is ranked among top 20-30.
The ranking measured the country's performance in terms of, 'Trading across borders' (89 in 2015 and 85 in 2014), 'Paying taxes' (158 in 2015 and 167 in 2014), 'Starting a business' (104 in 2015 and 101 in 2014), 'Getting credit' (89 in 2015 and 86 in 2014), 'Resolving insolvency' (72 in 2015 and 68 in 2014), 'Protecting investors' (51 in 2015 and 50 in 2014), 'Dealing with construction payments' (60 in 2015 and 60 in 2014), 'Getting electricity' (100 in 2015 and 100 in 2014), and 'Enforcing contracts' (165 in 2015 and 165 in 2014).
Thus, while Sri Lanka has actually worsened its position in all other aspects, it has only improved in the area of 'Paying taxes'. Siriwardene said the government's announcement that they would computerize Customs and Income Tax Departments would further improve this area.
He however, added that the new government's introduction of the super gain tax to apply retrospectively was unfair and discouraged large companies from expanding. "When it comes to taxes, companies need to be informed beforehand. You cannot tax past profits."
According to Siriwardene, the DBI index was initially developed to show how favourable the business environment was for small and medium businesses in a country. It later developed as an international standard for foreign investors who want to invest in a particular country. Thus, when a county scores low in the index, it is bound to discourage foreign direct investments from flowing in.
Singapore ranked number 1 for business in the index while other South Asian countries like Pakistan ranked 128, India ranked 142, Maldives ranked 116 and Bangladesh ranked 173.
From : Ceylon Today : https://www.ceylontoday.lk/51-85337-news-detail-improvement-in-lankas-dbi.html
