Although Poland was ranked a less-than-impressive 55th in the World Bank’s latest Doing Business report, it was nevertheless hailed as being the “fastest in the world when it came to implementing reforms meant to ease doing business.” Poland also jumped seven places from its ranking of 62nd in the previous Doing Business report.

But Poland’s performance this year is even more significant taking into consideration the fact that, according to the World Bank’s new methodology for the Doing Business ranking, Poland would have been in 74th position last year, indicating an actual jump of 19 places compared to the 2013 result.

Source: World Bank

A sprint, not a marathon

“These results are not a miracle but the consequence of hard work, determination and efforts over many years. Improving a business climate is not a matter of adopting a few regulations but of a systemic approach,” said Xavier Devictor, country manager for Poland and the Baltic countries at the World Bank, as the report was unveiled.

“It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Tusk said he would call for the creation of a permanent parliamentary committee to assume responsibility for promoting deregulation and checking proposed legislation in terms of its consequences for regulation.

Justice Minister Jarosław Gowin, whose ministry is responsible for five of the 10 areas surveyed in the Doing Business ranking, told reporters that the World Bank was very impressed with gains made in property registration in Poland.

Whereas in 2010 it took an average of 132 days to formally register a property in the Land Registry, it now takes seven days, Mr Gowin said. He also said his ministry is now working on a scheme to enable people to make an electronic request for registration in the Land Registry. Mr Gowin also said an Economic Courts Center in which 160 judges and 500 administrators would work, is being created.

“I think entrepreneurs’ comfort in seeking what is owed them will increase significantly because of this institution,” he added.