Lanka aims leapfrog for ease of business
Published : 12:00 am October 27, 2012 | 55 views | No comments so far | | E-mail to friend
By Cheranka Mendis
Encouraged by the steady improvement of the Doing Business Ranking over the past few years, with the 2013 listing at 81, the Government is targeting the 30th position by 2015, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said yesterday.
Hosting a meeting for Government officials with Economic Minister Basil Rajapaksa to discuss future strategies to improve the country’s ranking in the World Bank/IFC -compiled index, Cabraal noted that the target was to move from the current position of 81 to 30 by 2015. The goal could be achieved by improving the tasks that affect the 10 indicators presented by the World Bank/IFC.
Now positioned at 81 in the index, Sri Lanka has moved 15 places from its original ranking of 96 in 2012. The World Bank later revised the ranking to 89. In the report, Sri Lanka is noted as the second most improved country in the world in the Doing Business Ranking and is the highest ranking country in South Asia. Sri Lanka is also the only country in the region to have improved the ranking in 2013.
Central Bank Assistant Governor C.J.P. Siriwardena assured that Sri Lanka is the first country in South Asia to have secured a position as the ‘most improved’ within the past seven years.
For the 2013 ranking, the World Bank has recognised four key areas where the country has implemented reforms to complement the improvement in the ranking, he said.
The contributing factors include computerising and expediting the process of obtaining registration numbers for EPF and ETF, introducing an electronic system at the Land Registry in Colombo, strengthening the secured transaction system by establishing an electronic searchable collateral registry at CRIB and issuing regulations for its operations, and reducing the time taken to export by implementing the ASYCUDA World Electronic Data Interchangeable System.
However, to sustain the ranking and to grow, the country needs to implement varied measures on 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, which are the indicators considered by the World Bank in issuing rankings.
To secure the 30th position in the Index, with regard to starting a business, the Registrar of Companies should go for a one stop shop and enable procedures to be conducted online, while the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), and the Water Board must also host a one stop shop to enable the faster issuance of construction permits for businesses, the officials asserted.
A representative of the Company Registrar assured that by mid-2013, online registration would be a possibility for companies. The representative also spoke of combining the Land Registry, Inland Revenue, and Labour Department to create a one stop shop with interlinked systems. The target to form the setup and complete the online registration was discussed and confirmed for February-March 2013.
A representative of the CMC, Ananda Gamage informed those gathered that many reforms that had been completed had not been picked up by the World Bank. He noted that even though the World Bank mentioned 75 days to obtain development permits, in reality it now only takes 45 days.
To obtain Certificate of Conformity (COC), the report indicates 45 days, which the CMC stated is only 22 days now. Phone connectivity takes just a day as opposed to the 14 days mentioned in the report and water connection takes four days as opposed to 32 days, he noted. The World Bank agreed to work with the CMC in cross-checking the factors.
During the course of the discussion, Minister Basil Rajapaksa urged the CMC to drop the arrears in assessment tax consideration by the CMC in building permits to reduce the number of procedures to create efficiency within the system. “Let it be taken separately and done after granting the permits,” he said. “I also request you to have one single application form instead of the multiple forms that have to be acquired from various departments regarding construction permits.”
He requested the CMC to work at reducing the current 17 procedures to five with a single application by January 2013. Rajapaksa also urged the Land Registry and CMC websites to issue daily updates on their websites for accurate and up-to-date information to the public.
He also discussed the possibilities of EPF and ETF being online, simplifying the tax system to boost the ‘paying taxes’ aspect of the ranking, electronic submission, single window mechanism to help support trading across borders, and time-bound legal frameworks to resolve insolvency.