Kazakhstan: Business Better Than Usual in the Snow Leopard ...

Amid all the doom and gloom about the global economy, Kazakhstan can pat itself on the back. It has just joined the ranks of the world?s top 50 countries for doing business, according to a global study.

Kazakhstan jumped 11 places this year to rank 47th out of 183 countries surveyed, said the World Bank and International Finance Corporation?s 2012?Doing Business report. That economic accomplishment comes on the heels of last year?s recognition, when Kazakhstan soared 15 places to rank 58th and was singled out as the country that had done the most over the previous year to improve the business climate.

Astana scored points this year for having ?strengthened investor protections.? It now takes only 19 days to set up a business in Kazakhstan, with just six procedures to complete. Construction permits are a tad more complex, however: There are 32 hoops, and it takes 189 days to jump through them.

Kazakhstan put the basket-case economies of its Central Asian neighbors to shame in this year?s Doing Business: Uzbekistan came in near the bottom at 166th, Tajikistan fared little better at 147th, and only Kyrgyzstan came anywhere close to Kazakhstan, ranking 70th. Hermetic Turkmenistan did not feature at all.

News that Kazakhstan is one of the world?s top 50 business-friendly states will be music to the ears of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has long pursued the more elusive goal of making the economy one of the world?s 50 most competitive. Kazakhstan has been stuck at 72nd place (with 142 countries surveyed) in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report for the last two years.?

Source: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64376

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