Israel has risen 14 places in the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" rankings and is now in 35th place out of 190 countries, up from 49 last year. Israel has risen 19 places in the past two years.
Israel's most significant improvement has been in the Paying Taxes ranking where the country has risen to 13th place from 90th last year. This achievement is attributed to increased digitalization and the improvement of services provided by the Israel Tax Authority over the past few years. Other improvements achieved include Getting Credit where Israel rose from 60 to 48 after implementation of credit receipt reform procedures led by the Bank of Israel. Israel also rose in the Registering Property and Starting a Business indices by 14 places and 17 places respectively, while in the building permits rankings, Israel has risen thirty places over the past two years.
The Ministry of Finance has attributed the improvement to inter-ministerial efforts to deal with obstacles that had caused Israel's fall in previous rankings. These efforts were led in the past few years by Accountant General Rony Hizkiyahu who defined improving Israel's business environment as one of the two principle targets of his term of office. He coordinated matters with the prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Industry and Economy, the Israel Tax Authority and Ministry of Finance Budget Division.
In particular, the Ministry of Finance pays tribute to the role of the Ministry of Justice in improving the business environment by putting the registration of properties (Tabu) and the Corporations Authority operations on line as well as developing methodologies and work programs for improving Israel's position in the Doping Business index.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Thanks to responsible and determined policies we have brought about a dramatic jump of 14 places in the World Bank's Doing Business index. This achievement is the result of a concerted effort by government ministries. I set up a Ministerial Committee for Regulation that I headed that has brought about savings of billions of shekels and we will continue working to reduce regulation to benefit the welfare of Israel's citizens.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 24, 2019
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