Greece was among the best global reformers in streamlining business regulation in the past year, but remains one of the hardest places in Europe to run a company, according to the World Bank.
In its annual Doing Business report, the bank said Greece had made it easier to obtain construction permits, strengthened investor protection with greater disclosure requirements and introduced a new “prebankruptcy” procedure aimed at enhancing the rescue of distressed companies.
“Greece, driven in part by its economic crisis . . . [improved] its regulatory environment at a greater pace in the past year than in any of the previous six,” the report said. But the bank said Greece still ranked 78th out of the 185 countries in the index, below all western European economies except Malta.