The steps of the podium go to Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. The bottom of the class are instead Libya, the Central African Republic and Chad. The United States comes fourth, while Great Britain is tenth. Germany and France occupy positions 21 and 38 respectively. Spain 52nd. It's Italy? To get to our country you have to scroll to box number 65, the one between St. Lucia (64) and Trinidad and Tobago (66). This is the verdict of the Doing Business 2014 ranking, a document drawn up every year by World Bank economists to classify 189 countries on the basis of the conditions offered for doing business.
Our country's result is certainly not a source of pride – even Rwanda and Botswana are better than us – yet the situation has improved compared to last year. In the 2013 ranking, Italy was placed 73rd, which means that in just 12 months we have been able to recover eight positions.
How did we do? According to the World Bank, progress can be seen in three aspects: ownership registration (Italy rises from 54th to 34th place), contract effectiveness (from 140th to 103rd place) and foreign trade (from 58th to 56th place). On the other hand, the management of bankruptcies deserves a different discussion. From this point of view, Italy has lost three positions compared to 2013, but still remains at the top of the rankings, finishing in 33rd place: the changes to the bankruptcy regulations have in fact simplified the management of bankruptcy procedures.
As for the weaknesses of our country, they are the same as always: high tax burden and inefficient bureaucracy. The procedures for opening a business in Italy are still too many (six, against the five of the OECD average), but the costs are above all the factors: on average we are talking about 15 payments a year, 269 hours of administrative work and taxes from pay on profits and consumption, as well as social security contributions double the OECD average. Restricting the analysis to just the tax chapter, Italy's positioning is undoubtedly worrying. We are 138esmi. Still on 189.
