Varaždin Mayor attends the presentation ceremony.
Varaždin is the best town in Croatia for doing business, according to a study published recently by the World Bank after analyzing five Croatian towns, Varaždin, Zagreb, Split, Osijek, and Rijeka, reports Lokalni.hr on July 16, 2018.
“The biggest differences in the results in Croatia have been recorded in obtaining construction permissions, business dispute settlement, and starting businesses. The acquisition of a license to build a simple warehouse in Varaždin lasts for 112 days and costs 5.3 percent of the value of the warehouse, which is two times shorter and two-thirds less expensive than in Split,” the World Bank report says.
In this category, Varaždin is actually above the world average. It leads within Croatia in the speed of receiving a connection to the electricity network, thanks to “a more reliable power supply and shorter service breakdowns compared to other towns, and a relatively short wait for new connection installation.”
The Doing Business Report in the European Union, which covers Croatia, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Slovakia, was presented at the Esplanade Hotel in Zagreb.
Varaždin Mayor Ivan Čehok said that his town won the highest total number of points and was declared the best for business. “Varaždin is the best doing-business town in Croatia. Among the five towns in Croatia, we are far ahead of all others. In some segments, we are at the European average and at the European level, and in some, we are lagging behind. However, the segments in which we lag do not depend on the local government. This is, for example, the length of litigation in the commercial courts, which is not in our jurisdiction. This large European survey was conducted in several European Union countries. Although there are many similar studies which make possible for everyone to quote results they like, Doing Business is a serious study and report, done according to international standards. According to them, Varaždin is the number one town for doing business in Croatia,” said Mayor Čehok.
The study included the categories of starting a business, obtaining construction permits, obtaining electricity connection, registering ownership rights, and solving trade disputes.
Rita Ramalho, on behalf of the World Bank, said that Croatia would be positioned at the 40th place in the global ranking of 190 economies, 11 places better than now if Zagreb were to take over the best practices from the five Croatian towns.
Translated from Lokalni.hr (reported by Ivica Beti).
