1. 1 Doingbusiness in 2005 Removing Obstacles to Growth Simeon Djankov Joanna Kata-Blackman World Bank Group Reykjavik April 2005

2. 2 Regulation of Entry Labor Regulations Contract Enforcement Credit Markets Credit information Collateral Creditor rights Bankruptcy Corporate Governance Property registration Updates of 04 topics Business Licensing Taxation Trade Infrastructure Transport Customs Standards Updates of 04 and 05 2004 2005 2006 Doingbusiness indicators Products: Report, academic papers, country summaries, website database: www.doingbusiness.org

3. 3 Case Study l Limited liability company l Domestic SME l Largest city l General commercial activity l Capital = 10 x income per capita l Turnover = 10 x capital l How to enter? Indicators l Procedures l Time l Cost (% GNI per capita) l Minimum Capital Example of the methodology Starting a business

4. 4 Benchmarking: France (Jan. 1 st, 2003) Time, days Procedure Cost, % of per capita income 1. Check name for uniqueness 2. Notify the tenant of the home 3. Open a bank account and deposit start-up capital 4. Publish a notice of incorporation of the company 5. Visit tax office 6. File a request for a companys registration 7. Stamp company books 8. Unblock capital 9. Inform the post office of the new enterprise Time (left axis) Cost (right axis)

5. 5 Tracking Reform: France (Jan. 1 st, 2004) Time, days Procedure Cost, % of per capita income 1. Check name for uniqueness 2. Open a bank account and deposit start-up capital 3. Publish a notice of incorporation of the company 4. Register the company bylaws at the local tax office 5. File a request for a companys registration 6. Have company books stamped 7. Inform the post office of the new enterprise Time (left axis) Cost (right axis)

6. 6 Starting a business in Iceland (days) Global Best

7. 7 Starting a business: cost (% income per capita) Global Best

8. 8 Starting a business: minimum capital requirement (% of income per capita) Global Best

9. 9 Top 20 on doing business last year

10. 10 Who reformed last year? Europe

11. 11 Getting credit: cost to create collateral (% of income per capita) Global Best

12. 12 Enforcing contracts: time (days) Global best

13. 13 Enforcing contracts: cost (% of debt) Global Best

14. 14 Getting credit: coverage of borrowers by credit bureau (per 1,000 adults) Global Best

15. 15 Protecting investors in Iceland Transparency of corporate transactions (0 to 5 index, 5 is highest transparency)

16. 16 Protecting investors in Iceland Shareholder Rights (0 to 20 index, 20 is most rights)

17. 17 Reform pay-off in Iceland l Current growth forecasts are for about 5% annual GDP growth over the next 3-5 years. l Should Iceland further improve its business regulation – say to the level of Norway – another 0.5% would be added. This is about US$75 million a year.