World Bank Taps Georgia as South Caucasus Favorite for Business

In its annual report, Doing Business 2009, the World Bank has ranked Georgia as the 15th most business-friendly state out of 181 countries surveyed.

Elsewhere in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan was ranked in 33rd place and Armenia came in 44th. The Russian Federation lagged far behind in 120th place. The Doing Business index tracked various red-tape hurdles to economic activity, including the time and cost of opening and running business in a given economy. The report does not measure other relevant factors, such as the quality of infrastructure, inflation and criminal activity.

Georgia's Finance Ministry expressed hoped that the World Bank's assessment would boost foreign investor confidence that has diminished in the wake of the 2008 war with Russia, domestic political turmoil and the global financial crisis.