Survey on a Business Registration in Azerbaijan Identifies Opportunities to Further Business Registration Process.
A study jointly prepared by IFC and the inter-agency working group on capacity building finds that registrations of businesses in Azerbaijan increased by 30% in one year since the introduction of a single window system, for reasons of a significantly increased efficiency of the system, News.Az reports.
The main objective of the survey was to quantify and measure the impact of the new system, its effects on reducing registration time and costs for new legal entities, revealing any potential regional differences on the implementation of the new procedures across the country and other existing barriers for registering a company in Azerbaijan. Conducted during August–October 2009, the survey takes a representative sample of new companies from small and medium businesses registered from January 2008 onwards.
A study demonstrates that, as a result of the reform, legal entities now spend less than a half of what they used to in order to register a company, with a number of days decreased four times. For individual entrepreneurs the average cost of registration dropped to 20 AZN from the original 270 AZN with a number of days reduced by more than three times. The aggregate financial savings amount to AZN 19 mln (or approx USD 23 mln) until end of July 2009 for all entrepreneurs (both legal entities and sole traders) who registered their businesses since the new system came into effect. The working group and IFC experts jointly provided recommendations to the Ministry of Taxes on how to even further improve the system, to bring it in line with top international practices of business registration.
“The survey results show that Business registration process has been significantly simplified with the implementation of a a single window system,” said Rauf Namazov, the Head of Department of the Ministry of Taxes. “IFC’s help in this area is much appreciated and we are glad to continue working towards improving business registration processes in the country.”
The registration survey is an initiative of the World Bank Group Investment Climate Advisory Services and its capacity building component, supported by BP and its co-venturers. The purpose of the component is transfer of know-how and the IFC survey methodologies on investment climate. This survey, prepared jointly by the inter-agency working group on capacity building and IFC, focuses on the implementation and impact of the “one-stop shop” which became effective January 1, 2008.
“BP on behalf of its co-venturers, is pleased to participate in this project. Our aim is to support government’s efforts to create conditions which can further improve business climate and stimulate the development of entrepreneurship to boost Azerbaijan’s national economy,” said Ibrahim Ismayilov, Manager, BP Sustainable Development Initiative.
The World Bank Group has partnered with the Swiss Government and BP on behalf of its co-venturers to launch Investment Climate Advisory Services in August, 2009. This five-year program is designed to support the efforts of Azerbaijan’s government to improve the business environment for entrepreneurs and ensure sustainable and diversified economic growth. The project focuses on reducing the regulatory burden on business, monitoring the business environment through surveys of the small and medium enterprise sector, and increasing entrepreneurs’ awareness of their legal rights through outreach and advocacy work.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
About BP
BP as the operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Shah Deniz, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects on behalf of its co-venturers leads number of sustainable development initiatives to support local enterprise development. These initiatives include supporting local enterprises through provision of access to finance as well as technical assistance. During the first 3 quarters of 2009 BP and co-venturers have spent $2.38 million in Azerbaijan alone on sustainable development projects.
BP’s co-venturers are SOCAR, Statoil, Chevron, TPAO, ExxonMobil, Devon, INPEX, ITOCHU, AzBTC, NICO, Total, Hess, LUKOIL, ENI, ConocoPhillips and Azerbaijan SCP Ltd. About $25 billion were invested by BP and co-venturers on the ACG, BTC, SD Stage 1 and SCP project since their inception. For more information, visit www.bp.com/caspian
News.Az