Albania stepped down several places in the list that the World Bank makes in the “Doing Business” annual report. The report that was published in Washington for 2012 moved Albania from the 77th place to the 82nd. The report gives details for improvements and reforms that did not function as it should.

The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation said that one of the problems that have not yet been resolved from businesses is to take construction permission. This stunt started since the beginning of 2009. In relation to this problem, the World Bank enlisted Albania the last country among 183 that were included in the report.

A non-so-good evaluation was also given for the energy contracts and tax payments. For these issues, Albania is enlisted in the 154th place and in the 152nd place, because business needs few days to sign a contract and many hours to pay taxes.

But the country took positive evaluations for other sectors, such as albanian real estate and the registration of property titles. The report says that “by setting time deadlines, Albania made property registration easier.” The country is enlisted in the 16th place for the protection of investors and in the 24th place for loan-taking.

“Doing Business” takes into consideration 10 different fields, with which business is faced in 183 different countries. So, there is a special list for the opening of a business, for tax payment, for different permissions and other processes, which taken together give the final result for each of the countries.

Although there are real fears of Europe slipping into another recession, a recent report released by the International Monetary Fund shows Albania is bucking the trend, with GDP growth for 2011 predicted to be around 2.5%, increasing to 3.5% in 2012.

The growth forecast for this year is lower than the 3% GDP growth seen in 2009 and 2010, but the Albanian government is even more positive about the outlook, and predicts GDP growth to be around 4.5% which is great news for anyone looking to invest in this Balkan nation.

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