Bosnia slipped one place to rank 131th in the 2014 edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business report that assesses the ease of doing business across 189 economies worldwide.

The ranking, compiled by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, evaluates how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. 

The deterioration from the previous year’s 130th place* came after Bosnia introduced a penalty for failure to employ the required minimum number of people in special categories making it more costly for companies to pay taxes. The report notes, however, that the country also temporarily abolished the forestry tax in the past year. Bosnia's position worsened the most in the area of starting a business (down 10 places). On the other hand, the country improved its ranking in the area of resolving insolvency (up 4 places) and enforcing contracts (up 3 places).

Bosnia is the worst performer in the SEE region in terms of ease of doing business, ranking considerably behind Serbia (93th rank), Albania (90), Croatia (89), Kosovo (86), Montenegro (44) and Macedonia (25). It is also lagging behind the EU member states - Bulgaria (58) and Romania (73).   

*The 2013 Doing Business report covered 185 economies.