Trends In Corruption And Regulatory Burden Eastern Europe And Central Asia

This study assesses levels and trends in corruption and the administrative burden from government regulation of private firms. It is largely based on the fourth round of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS) covering over 11,000 firms in 29 countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). The report provides an update of the progress that ECA countries have made since 2005, extends (in certain respects) the analysis of corruption and regulatory burden on firms provided in the earlier Anticorruption in Transition (ACT) reports covering the period from 1999 to 2005, and in several instances provides comparisons of ECA countries to similar countries outside of the region using the World Bank enterprise surveys and other sources of data. Despite making significant progress on administrative bribery overall, corruption is cited more frequently by firms in the region as an obstacle to doing business than any other problem, with the exception of tax rates. In part, this continued perception of corruption as one of the most serious problems for business may reflect slower progress on other aspects of corruption not measured directly in firm-state interactions covered by the BEEPS.