Colombo (News 1st): Sri Lanka has been ranked 99th in the latest edition of the World Bank’s Ease of doing business index.

The ten economies scoring the highest on the ease of doing business rankings were New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region China, Denmark, Republic of Korea, United States, Georgia, United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden.

India, which was placed 63rd in the Doing Business rankings, is the highest-ranked economy in South Asia, followed by Bhutan at 89 and Nepal at 94. The region’s lowest-ranked economies are Bangladesh at 168 and Afghanistan at 173.

India, with four reforms, is among the top ten improvers for the third consecutive year. Another top reformer, Pakistan, with six reforms, improved the most in the region during the past year moving forward 28 places.

However, only half of the South Asian region’s economies carried out reforms in the past year. Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives did not make any regulatory changes.

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