The most recent edition of the World Bank's annual "Doing Business" report is a sobering read for Myanmar. It has been almost three years since President Thein Sein came to power and launched his much-trumpeted reform programme. As part of the effort to reconnect Myanmar to the global economy, the country was included in the report for the first time in 2013. Yet the results show that it is still among the very worst countries in the world to do business. It came 182nd out of the 189 countries surveyed, above such places as Eritrea, Congo, Libya and South Sudan. On some indicators, such as the ease of starting a business and enforcing contracts, Myanmar even ranked below these African countries. Long and costly approval procedures hamper much-needed construction work to rebuild dilapidated infrastructure. Burmese electricity is the priciest in the region.
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