OREANDA-NEWS. April 23, 2012. A new survey from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, finds that the majority of Georgian business people view the country’s business environment positively, as measured by their perception of recent legislative reforms, reported the press-centre of IFC. 

The survey results are helping the government to identify remaining challenges to improve the investment climate. The IFC Georgia Tax Simplification Project, surveying more than 1,000 Georgian businesses, finds that 75 percent of enterprises believe that the business environment is fairly or quite attractive. As few as 0.11 percent of respondents mentioned having faced corruption in dealing with government agencies, and only 6 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed have heard about other businesses having encountered corruption.  

Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus, said, “This survey sheds light on Georgia’s outstanding progress in combating corruption and improving the environment for business. It also highlights areas for improvement in the implementation of regulations. We are committed to working with the Georgian government to continuously improve the environment for private business and help entrepreneurs benefit from recent reforms.”

The IFC survey also finds that in 2011 larger firms had better growth results than smaller businesses. More than half of large businesses surveyed increased in 2011 compared to 2010, while only 17 percent of small companies experienced growth and 43 percent declined in the same period. One of the major reasons for the declines is reported to be low market demand. The survey also identifies key problems faced by businesses, including access to finance, penalties, high tax rates, and utility costs.

For more about the report, visit http://www.ifc.org/eca

The IFC Georgia Tax Simplification Project is supported with funds from the governments of Austria and Luxemburg, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Georgia has been a member of IFC since 1995. IFC’s cumulative investments in the country to date total \\$605 million in 40 projects across various sectors. IFC advisory services projects in Georgia focus on reforming the tax system to benefit small businesses, helping raise food safety standards, and strengthening the risk-management practices of banks.