Doing Business 2015: Lithuania Summary
Core Content
The Doing Business 2015 report provides a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory environment for small to medium-sized businesses in Lithuania. It evaluates 11 key areas of business regulation, comparing Lithuania's performance with other economies and presenting data on the ease of doing business, distance to frontier, and the impact of regulatory reforms.
Main Indicators and Performance
| Indicator |
Lithuania DB2015 |
Lithuania DB2014 |
Comparator (Denmark) |
Comparator (Finland) |
Comparator (Germany) |
Comparator (Latvia) |
Comparator (Norway) |
Comparator (Poland) |
Global Best Performer |
| Starting a Business (Rank) |
11 |
19 |
25 |
27 |
114 |
36 |
22 |
85 |
New Zealand (1) |
| Starting a Business (DTF Score) |
96.22 |
93.97 |
93.40 |
93.10 |
81.38 |
92.12 |
94.03 |
85.79 |
New Zealand (99.96) |
| Procedures (number) |
3.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
9.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
6.0 |
4 Economies (1.0) |
| Time (days) |
3.5 |
6.5 |
5.5 |
14.0 |
14.5 |
12.5 |
5.0 |
30.0 |
3 Economies (1.0) |
| Cost (% of income per capita) |
0.7 |
0.9 |
0.2 |
1.1 |
8.8 |
3.6 |
0.9 |
12.9 |
4 Economies (0.0) |
| Dealing with Construction Permits (Rank) |
15 |
25 |
5 |
33 |
8 |
47 |
27 |
137 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (1) |
| DTF Score |
85.27 |
83.33 |
89.84 |
81.61 |
87.42 |
78.38 |
83.05 |
62.97 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (95.53) |
| Procedures (number) |
11.0 |
11.0 |
7.0 |
15.0 |
8.0 |
12.0 |
10.0 |
19.0 |
12 Economies (3.0) |
| Time (days) |
91.0 |
111.0 |
64.0 |
64.0 |
96.0 |
149.0 |
122.5 |
212.0 |
Singapore (26.0) |
| Cost (% of warehouse value) |
0.3 |
0.3 |
2.3 |
0.8 |
1.1 |
0.3 |
0.6 |
0.3 |
Qatar (0.0) |
| Registering Property (Rank) |
9 |
9 |
8 |
38 |
89 |
32 |
5 |
39 |
Georgia (1) |
| DTF Score |
92.39 |
92.39 |
92.61 |
80.58 |
67.78 |
81.69 |
94.12 |
80.30 |
Georgia (99.88) |
| Procedures (number) |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
1.0 |
6.0 |
4 Economies (1.0) |
| Time (days) |
2.5 |
2.5 |
4.0 |
32.0 |
40.0 |
18.0 |
3.0 |
33.0 |
3 Economies (1.0) |
| Cost (% of property value) |
0.8 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
4.0 |
6.7 |
2.0 |
2.5 |
0.3 |
4 Economies (0.0) |
| Getting Credit (Rank) |
23 |
19 |
23 |
36 |
23 |
23 |
61 |
17 |
New Zealand (1) |
| DTF Score |
70.00 |
70.00 |
70.00 |
65.00 |
70.00 |
70.00 |
55.00 |
75.00 |
New Zealand (100) |
| Strength of Legal Rights (0-12) |
6 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
3 Economies (12) |
| Depth of Credit Information (0-8) |
8 |
8 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
23 Economies (8) |
| Credit Bureau Coverage (% of adults) |
97.7 |
89.4 |
7.8 |
19.6 |
100.0 |
0.0 |
100.0 |
84.3 |
Portugal (100.0) |
| Credit Registry Coverage (% of adults) |
28.8 |
28.3 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.3 |
76.8 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
23 Economies (100.0) |
| Protecting Minority Investors (Rank) |
78 |
77 |
17 |
76 |
51 |
49 |
12 |
35 |
New Zealand (1) |
| DTF Score |
55.00 |
55.00 |
67.50 |
55.83 |
59.17 |
60.00 |
70.00 |
62.50 |
New Zealand (81.67) |
| Conflict of Interest Regulation (0-10) |
6.0 |
6.0 |
6.7 |
6.0 |
5.0 |
5.7 |
7.0 |
6.0 |
Singapore (9.3) |
| Shareholder Governance (0-10) |
5.0 |
5.0 |
6.8 |
5.2 |
6.8 |
6.3 |
7.0 |
6.5 |
France (7.8) |
| Minority Investor Protection (0-10) |
5.5 |
5.5 |
6.8 |
5.6 |
5.9 |
6.0 |
7.0 |
6.3 |
New Zealand (8.2) |
| Paying Taxes (Rank) |
44 |
43 |
12 |
21 |
68 |
24 |
15 |
87 |
United Arab Emirates (1) |
| DTF Score |
81.24 |
81.05 |
91.94 |
88.36 |
77.02 |
86.19 |
90.80 |
73.51 |
United Arab Emirates (99.44) |
| Payments (number/year) |
11.0 |
11.0 |
10.0 |
8.0 |
9.0 |
7.0 |
4.0 |
18.0 |
Hong Kong SAR, China (3.0) |
| Time (hours/year) |
175.0 |
175.0 |
130.0 |
93.0 |
218.0 |
193.0 |
83.0 |
286.0 |
Luxembourg (55.0) |
| Trading Across Borders (Rank) |
21 |
21 |
7 |
14 |
18 |
28 |
24 |
41 |
Singapore (1) |
| DTF Score |
87.21 |
87.12 |
92.23 |
89.10 |
87.67 |
85.36 |
85.56 |
81.80 |
Singapore (96.47) |
| Documents to Export (number) |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
Ireland (2) |
| Time to Export (days) |
10.0 |
10.0 |
6.0 |
9.0 |
9.0 |
10.0 |
8.0 |
15.0 |
5 Economies (6.0) |
| Cost to Export (US$ per container) |
750.0 |
750.0 |
795.0 |
615.0 |
1,015.0 |
600.0 |
1,265.0 |
1,050.0 |
Timor-Leste (410.0) |
| Documents to Import (number) |
5 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
Ireland (2) |
| Time to Import (days) |
9.0 |
9.0 |
5.0 |
7.0 |
7.0 |
11.0 |
7.0 |
14.0 |
Singapore (4.0) |
| Cost to Import (US$ per container) |
800.0 |
800.0 |
745.0 |
625.0 |
1,050.0 |
801.0 |
1,140.0 |
1,025.0 |
Singapore (440.0) |
| Enforcing Contracts (Rank) |
14 |
19 |
34 |
17 |
13 |
16 |
8 |
52 |
Singapore (1) |
| DTF Score |
75.85 |
74.81 |
68.79 |
75.58 |
76.74 |
75.59 |
78.41 |
64.83 |
Singapore (89.54) |
| Time (days) |
300.0 |
300.0 |
410.0 |
375.0 |
394.0 |
469.0 |
280.0 |
685.0 |
Singapore (150.0) |
| Cost (% of claim) |
23.6 |
23.6 |
23.3 |
13.3 |
14.4 |
23.1 |
9.9 |
19.4 |
Iceland (9.0) |
| Procedures (number) |
31.0 |
32.0 |
35.0 |
33.0 |
31.0 |
27.0 |
34.0 |
33.0 |
Singapore (21.0) |
| Resolving Insolvency (Rank) |
67 |
61 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
40 |
8 |
32 |
Finland (1) |
| DTF Score |
48.47 |
51.05 |
84.59 |
93.85 |
91.78 |
63.42 |
85.62 |
69.73 |
Finland (93.85) |
| Time (years) |
2.3 |
- |
1.0 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
1.5 |
0.9 |
3.0 |
Ireland (0.4) |
| Cost (% of estate) |
10.0 |
7.0 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
8.0 |
10.0 |
1.0 |
15.0 |
Norway (1.0) |
| Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale, 1 as going concern) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
- |
| Recovery Rate (cents on the dollar) |
43.6 |
48.4 |
87.5 |
90.2 |
83.4 |
48.2 |
92.3 |
57.0 |
Japan (92.9) |
| Strength of Insolvency Framework (0-16) |
8.0 |
8.0 |
12.0 |
14.5 |
15.0 |
12.0 |
11.5 |
12.5 |
5 Economies (15.0) |
Key Findings
- Ease of Doing Business Rank: Lithuania is ranked 24th in the global ease of doing business ranking in 2015, with no change from 2014.
- Distance to Frontier (DTF) Score: Lithuania's DTF score is 76.3, indicating it is relatively close to the best regulatory practices, with a small increase of 0.4 from 2014.
- Key Areas of Improvement:
- Starting a Business: Lithuania improved its rank from 19th to 11th, and its DTF score increased from 93.97 to 96.22.
- Registering Property: Lithuania's DTF score increased to 92.39, with a small number of procedures and time.
- Paying Taxes: Lithuania's DTF score increased slightly to 81.24, with a moderate number of payments and time.
- Areas of Concern:
- Resolving Insolvency: Lithuania is ranked 67th, with a low DTF score of 48.47, indicating significant room for improvement.
- Enforcing Contracts: Lithuania is ranked 14th, with a DTF score of 75.85, which is below the global best performer, Singapore.
- Comparison with Comparator Economies:
- Lithuania generally performs better than many comparator economies, such as Poland and Latvia, but lags behind top performers like New Zealand, Singapore, and Denmark.
- The report highlights the importance of comparing with economies that have similar characteristics to better understand relative performance.
Methodology Changes in 2015
- Ease of Doing Business Ranking: Based on distance to frontier scores rather than previous methods.
- Second City Data: Added for 11 large economies, including Lithuania.
- Getting Credit: Revised methodology for the strength of legal rights index and depth of credit information index, increasing the number of points and requiring credit bureaus to cover at least 5% of the adult population.
- Protecting Minority Investors: Expanded to include corporate governance and renamed to better reflect its scope.
- Resolving Insolvency: Added an index measuring the strength of the legal framework.
- Paying Taxes: Revised calculation to include a nonlinear approach for the total tax rate.
- Labor Market Regulation: Renamed from "employing workers" and now includes labor disputes and worker benefits.
Summary
The Doing Business 2015 report highlights Lithuania's progress in improving its regulatory environment for businesses, particularly in areas like starting a business and registering property, while still identifying areas where reforms are needed, such as resolving insolvency and enforcing contracts. The report also provides a comparative perspective, allowing policy makers to benchmark Lithuania against other economies and identify best practices. The DTF score and rankings are essential tools for assessing how close an economy is to the most efficient regulatory practices.
