Georgia in World Bank's Top 10 in Terms of Low Number of Bribery Cases

Georgia is among the World Bank's Top 10 in terms of the low number of bribery cases and freedom from the pressure of bribery, the Ministry of Finance reports.

The World Bank Enterprise Survey focuses on many aspects of the business environment that play a major role in the growth and development of the private sector and, consequently, the economy as a whole. Enterprise surveys are conducted every four years. The aim of the research is to evaluate the business environment. The survey was last conducted in Georgia from March 2019 to January 2020. During this period, 581 company owners and high-ranking managers were interviewed in the country.

"The questions in the study cover exactly the factors that are important for the business environment and the economy: infrastructure, foreign trade, finance, regulations, taxes and business licensing, corruption, crime and the informal economy, access to finance, innovation, labor, barriers to the business environment.

"The Enterprise Survey (ES) is conducted by the World Bank Group in partnership with EBRD, EIB,  and DFID. The study covers all geographical regions of the world and hundreds of thousands of small, medium and large private companies, " said the Ministry of Finance.

Based on the information released by the Ministry, in terms of freedom from corruption, Georgia merited the best rating in the world. In particular, Georgia is among the top 10 among 144 countries in terms of the low number of bribery cases. It also ranked among the top 10 countries in terms of freedom from bribery pressure.

Sebastian Molineus, World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, says the Enterprise Survey is a very important survey that assesses the "health" of the country's private sector, and is in fact one of the few surveys that are truly global.

"In my opinion, the results of the research are very interesting. It should be noted that entrepreneurs and directors of firms here in Georgia spend much less time due to the burden of regulation on tax rates and administrative issues. Obtaining permits is much faster than in other countries, and in general, the business environment is much more favorable than in many other, similar countries. Significant progress has been made in the fight against corruption, and Georgia is among the top ten countries in this regard. However, on the other hand, there are still problems to be solved, mainly in terms of infrastructure, and obtaining construction permits (compared to other similar countries), access to funding, and finally, employees with adequate education," Molineus noted.

The Ministry of Finance of Georgia says that a report on Georgia was published in February 2020. However, recently, data from several countries have been added to the report, so it is now possible to compare Georgia with different countries around the world. You can see it on the World Bank website.

By Ana Dumbadze