Ireland improves one place in Cost of Business report

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe. Photo: Tom Burke

Colm Kelpie

Ireland has moved up one place in a global ranking examining the country's ease in doing business.

The World Bank assessment puts Ireland 17th out of 190 countries. It ranks fourth in the Eurozone, ahead of Germany and France, and seventh in the European Union overall.

The United Kingdom was seventh place overall.

Ireland improved or maintained its ranking relative to the other 189 economies in respect of seven of the ten indicators.

The report looks at areas such as starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and labour market regulation.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the improvement in the ranking is a positive reflection on the business environment in Ireland for small and medium-sized firms. "This year's report shows that while the conditions for entrepreneurship in Ireland are already favourable, there is always room to do more," Mr Donohoe said.

"We will be striving to strengthen our performance in individual areas that the Report seeks to measure and improve our ranking as time goes on."

Ireland ranked fourth in paying taxes and eighth on starting a business.

But it ranked 98th in enforcing contracts, and 42nd in getting credit.

New Zealand tops the list for ease of doing business for the second consecutive year, followed by Singapore, Denmark, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Malawi, Kosovo, India, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Nigeria, Djibouti and El Salvador were the most improved economies in 2016/2017.

Together, they implemented 53 regulatory reforms.