New reforms to boost investment

Two Afghan businessmen who run a trade company in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, look for goods to be purchased at the Yiwu International Trade City in July 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]

The task of deepening the integration of China into the global economy is posing a series of challenges to the Chinese authorities as it requires improvements to the local standards of doing business, additional measures beyond the opening-up policy, and enhanced legislations, experts said.

China ranked 31st in the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 report, and among the top 10 fastest-reforming countries around the world for two years in a row.

What's more, in terms of the best environment for "doing business", China moved up the rankings by almost 50 places during the past four years, joining the world's top 30 countries.

The latest edition of the World Bank Doing Business report acknowledges the 10 economies that improved the most in terms of "ease of doing business" after implementing regulatory reforms: China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, India, and Nigeria.

These 10 economies implemented a total of 59 regulatory reforms, accounting for one-fifth of all the reforms recorded worldwide. Their efforts focused primarily on the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and trading across borders, the report said.

It indicated that, in 2018 alone, China implemented significant reforms in eight out of 10 "doing business" areas, from starting a business, through construction permits and getting electricity, to paying taxes and registering property.

Improvement in dealing with construction permits, for example, has been particularly notable. While only a few years ago, it took more than a year to get a construction permit in Beijing, now it takes just 93 days.

China has managed to combine the substantial progress in streamlining the regulations with enhancing their quality: it now scores all 15 points on the building control quality process, supporting public safety.