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Bulgaria gave up its 50<\/span>th<\/span> position to rank 59<\/span>th<\/span> in World Bank\u2019s <\/span>Doing Business 2019<\/span><\/i> ranking. The annual analysis assesses the conditions for business development in countries around the globe, based on the performance of 41 indicators, grouped into 10 sub-indicators: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, <\/span>getting access to electricity<\/span>, registering property, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and settlement of business disputes, getting a credit, resolving insolvency and protecting minority investors.<\/span><\/p>\nBulgaria was positioned 59<\/span>th<\/span> among a total of 190 economies, showing an improvement in some indicators but a decline in the overall score due to <\/span>the <\/span>faster pace of development in other countries around the world. At a maximum assessment value of 100%, our country reached 71.24% (compared to 71.91% last year) with an average assessment of 72.34% for the region of Europe and Central Asia (72.33% a year ago).<\/span><\/p>\n Just l<\/span>ike in the 2018 ranking<\/span>, our country performed best in terms of <\/span>cross-border trade<\/span><\/i>, taking the 21<\/span>st<\/span> position. Bulgaria has been keeping this position for the third consecutive year.<\/span><\/p>\n In terms of <\/span>protection of minority owners,<\/span><\/i> our country ranked 33<\/span>rd<\/span>, which is a good position in the overall ranking, but is lower compared to the scores for this indicator in the previous two years \u2013 24<\/span>th<\/span> place in last year\u2019s edition and 13<\/span>th<\/span> two years ago. The performance of the country in respect to <\/span>enforcing contracts<\/span><\/i> was also relatively good (42<\/span>nd<\/span> position this year, compared to 40<\/span>th<\/span> in 2017) and <\/span>construction permits<\/span><\/i> (37<\/span>th<\/span> position). A sharp decline was registered in the assessment of <\/span>access to credit<\/span><\/i>, where Bulgaria dropped from 42<\/span>nd<\/span> to 60<\/span>th<\/span> place. In terms of <\/span>getting electricity<\/span><\/i>, our result was higher (54.93 compared to 54.80), but compared to the scores of other Eastern European countries, Bulgaria fell behind – the Czech Republic was positioned 10<\/span>th<\/span>, Poland and Greece ranked 58<\/span>th<\/span>, while Bulgaria was 147<\/span>th<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n The leader in World Bank\u2019s <\/span>Doing Business<\/span><\/i> ranking this year again was New Zealand. The other top ten countries with the most favorable business environment were Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea, Georgia, Norway, the USA, the UK and Macedonia<\/span> – the <\/span>big surprise in the ranking due to its good performance and entering in the top 10.<\/span><\/p>\n