Estonia '22nd best business country'

KMS Baltics in conjunction with Fest-Forest and EST KINNISVARA. Baltic forestry and property specialists

Estonia has been named the 22nd-best country in which to do business by the World Bank.

The body's Doing Business 2009 survey placed Lithuania at 28th and Latvia at 29th out of a list of 181 countries.

Countries were assessed on criteria such as the time and cost needed to meet government regulations, ease of trading across borders, paying taxes and closing a business.

Singapore topped the list for the third year running, followed by New Zealand and the US, with other countries in the top ten including the UK, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland and China.

The three worst countries to do business were found to be the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau.

In the period of the study - between June 2007 and June 2008 - there have been 239 reforms making it easier to do business in 113 economies, the World Bank found.

Michael Klein from the report said it was compiled to encourage "good rules" because "economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all who use them".

In related news, it was revealed in August by the National Broadcasting that investments into timber processing will be subsidised until 2013, the Baltic Course reported.