Slovakia ranked an overall 46th among 121 countries in the Global Enabling Trade Report 2009 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on July 7, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Published for the second time and covering 121 economies worldwide, the report presents a resource for discussion and provides a yardstick of the extent to which economies have the necessary attributes for enabling trade as well as describing where improvements are most needed, the WEF wrote in its press release.
“Slovakia was evaluated very favourably for its low customs duties,” Róbert Kičina, the executive director of the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS), the partner organisation of WEF, told TASR. However, the system of customs used in Slovakia was criticised for not being transparent enough, he added, explaining that while in Hong Kong (which ranked second in the report) there is one customs duty rate used for all goods, there are 1,491 different rates in Slovakia.
Slovakia received below-average rankings in the effectiveness of its export-import procedures and in the quality of its transport infrastructure.
East Asian economies – Singapore and Hong Kong SAR – occupy the top two positions in the Enabling Trade Index ranking, followed by Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, according to the report. Canada, Norway, Finland, Austria and the Netherlands complete the top-10 list, WEF wrote. TASR
Compiled by Michaela Stanková from press reports
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