Latest world rankings show advancements in business environment

By Zhang Dandan | China Daily | Updated: 2019-11-27 07:24

Beijing has made great strides in forging a favorable business environment, which has been recognized by the World Bank.

The business-friendly environment will help enhance the city's attractiveness for investment and foster its high-quality development, said Marcin Piatkowski, a senior economist at the bank.

In the bank's latest Doing Business 2020 report, which traces how world economies are implementing reforms to encourage efficiency and support freedom to do business, China's overall ranking climbed 15 places to No 31.

Among the Chinese representative cities participating in the bank's business environment assessment is the country's capital Beijing.

The report revealed that Beijing scored 78.2, up 4.6 points from last year, which surpassed some cities in European Union countries and member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Beijing has achieved or exceeded the world's leading level in six indicators, including cost and procedures of getting electricity, the quality control in the construction permit system and the quality of judicial process for enforcing contracts, the report said.

The city has made significant progress in improving its business environment in many fields, which means it is becoming more attractive to investors and is willing to provide an open environment for new businesses, Piatkowski told Beijing Evening News.

The business environment is an important index for domestic and foreign investors, Piatkowski said, adding that a better business environment means lower taxes, as well as reduced costs of starting a business and registering properties, thus allowing business operations to be more competitive.

By undergoing a series of reforms to benefit enterprises and residents, Beijing has achieved substantial results in improving the efficiency in government affairs service and lowering the costs for local enterprises.

In the past two years, Beijing has taken the lead in reducing the procedures of starting a business from seven to one, and the processing time from 24 days to one day.

By promoting electronic business licenses and issuing free official seals, the capital helps local enterprises save 60 million yuan ($8.54 million) each year.

Thanks to the reforms, 143,000 new enterprises were founded in Beijing during the first eight months of this year, up 4.3 percent from the same period in 2018.

By setting up integrated service windows covering services such as real estate transaction, tax affairs and business registration, Beijing has cut the procedures of registering real estate from four to one, and the processing time from five days to one day.

The city has also stepped up its efforts to optimize electricity supply and cut electricity costs.

In 2018, Beijing cut the power access cost from 19.2 yuan to zero, which has benefited 30,200 small and micro-sized companies, helping them save some 1.3 billion yuan.

Local enterprises enjoy great convenience in obtaining electricity and can even apply for electricity through their mobile phones. The service is impressive and it is where many other countries are exploring reforms, Piatkowski noted.

In addition, Beijing has streamlined administrative approval processes in issuing building permits.

The report shows the processing time for a building permit in Beijing has been shortened by 32 percent, and the procedures reduced by 18 percent. Its ranking has soared to 100, up 32 places from last year.

The requirements have been simplified from 13 items to four items in the application process of building permit. All procedures should be completed within five working days, according to the Beijing Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

zhangdandan@chinadaily.com.cn