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Doing Business in Russia 2009 compares business regulations across 10 Russian cities. The report focuses on local regulations that affect four stages in the life of a small or mid-sized domestic enterprise: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, and trading across borders. These indicators capture federal and municipal legislation and practice.

The report shows that differences in city-level regulations and in the implementation of federal laws by local authorities can enhance or constrain local business activity. It suggests that Russian cities can improve competitiveness by adopting local and international best practices.

Doing Business in Russia 2009 was requested by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation and supported by the participating regional administrations. It was prepared with the support of the Center for Strategic Research North-West Foundation, located in St. Petersburg.

Main findings:

• Doing Business is easier in Kazan, Tver and Petrozavodsk. It is more difficult to start and operate a business in Voronezh and Moscow.
• The time to register a business varies from 22 days in Rostov-on-Don to 37 days in Petrozavodsk. The main sources of delay are separate registrations for pension, social security, and health care required in some cities despite the same federal rules.
• Cities in Russia do well on the number of procedures and cost to register property -- on average, only six procedures are needed that cost 0.6% of the property value. The process is half as costly as OECD countries. Variations in practices and efficiency of the local offices of national agencies are behind the time differences -- property transfer takes 47 days in Tomsk compared to 117 days in St. Petersburg.
• Dealing with construction permits requires 22 procedures in Rostov-on-Don and 23 in Kazan. The situation is most challenging in Moscow, where 36 steps are required before ground is broken in a construction project and 54 separate procedures are required.
• It takes 24 days and costs $1,350 per container to export goods from St. Petersburg and 36 days and $2,150 to export goods from Moscow. St. Petersburg’s vicinity to the sea makes it easier to export compared to Moscow, but the process is still burdensome.

Highlights

• Doing Business in Russia 2009 - Full report (PDF, 1.9MB) 
• Press release (PDF, 48KB)
• Presentation (PPT, 2.8MB)

Additional Information

• View Doing Business 2010 indicators for Russian Federation (Moscow)
• Russian Federation country profile (PDF, 720KB)

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