Azerbaijan ranks 34th in Doing Business 2020

Azerbaijan takes 34th place among 190 countries in Doing Business 2020 rating published by the World Bank.

According to the WB report, Azerbaijan made improvements in areas of registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors and enforcing contracts. In turn, some restrictions are observed in area of paying taxes.

"Azerbaijan made registering property easier and more transparent by increasing the coverage of its cadaster and digitizing cadastral plans. Azerbaijan also made property transfer more difficult by making it mandatory to deposit funds into the notary deposit account," the bank said in a report.

In the area of getting credit, Azerbaijan strengthened access to credit by allowing nonpossessory security interests in one category of movable assets without any restrictions on the use of inventory, including future assets extending automatically to products, proceeds, and replacements of the original collateral, the bank added.

It was also noted that Azerbaijan allowed the general description of debts and obligations as well as out-of-court enforcement of security interests.

In regards to protecting minority investors, Azerbaijan strengthened this area by imposing liability on directors for unfair related-party transactions. the WB said.

"In turn, Azerbaijan made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an e-system that allows plaintiffs to file the initial complaint electronically and by adopting a consolidated law on voluntary mediation," the report says.