Slovakia has dropped three places in the latest Doing Business report for 2019, published by the World Bank. It currently ranks 42nd out of 190 monitored countries.
Its position could be even worse without its membership of the European Union and strong foreign trade, the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported.
Slovakia received 75.17 points in the ranking, improving its score by 0.29 points compared with the previous year. However, it has been surpassed by the economies that have managed to improve their business environment more significantly, the SITA newswire reported.
Strong and weak points
The country has been falling in the ranking for four years in a row, making it harder for the government to meet its goal to place Slovakia among the 15 most competitive economies up to 2020, Hospodárske Noviny wrote.
Although Slovakia shared its first place in foreign trade, it still lags behind the others when it comes to starting a business. While in Georgia it is possible to establish a company in two days, here it takes 26.5 days, which places the country in 127th position.
Moreover, when it comes to building permissions, the country placed 143rd. The situation here is similar to the one in Tanzania, Hospodárske Noviny wrote.
When it comes to regional comparisons, Slovakia was surpassed by Poland (33rd) and the Czech Republic (35th). Hungary placed 53rd, SITA wrote.
