Malta ranked 94th in the World Bank’s report on the ease of doing business, with an even worse rank – 136th – for ease of starting a business.

Getting started takes 34.5 days and involves 11 different procedures, according to Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency.

The World Bank Group publication is the 12th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.

Malta has only been included in the report for the past three years, ranking in 101st place in the 2013 report and 103rd in the 2014 report – although some methodology has changed.

Malta fared best in paying taxes (26th) and worst in getting credit (171st).

Malta has the lowest rank of all the EU member states.

The report noted that starting a business in Malta has actually been made easier through the creation of an electronic link between the Registrar of Companies and the Inland Revenue Department, to ease the issuance of a tax identification number.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Out of the 189 economies included in the report, 123 saw improvements in their local regulatory framework last year. Between June 2013 and June 2014, the report documented 230 business reforms, with 145 reforms aimed at reducing the complexity and cost of complying with business regulation, and 85 reforms aimed at strengthening legal institutions – with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the largest number of such reforms.

Tajikistan, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Azerbaijan, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates im­proved the most in 2013/2014, between them, making 40 regulatory reforms to make it easier to do business.

Singapore emerged as the easiest place to do business, with New Zealand in second place and Hong Kong in third.