The ministry said it was surprised that "such a serious international financial institution issued a global report using unprofessional methodology." It said that the proof of this was the fact that all the data for Croatia were based solely on surveys of fewer than 30 law firms and auditors, and that the same questions on the business environment were not addressed to those most competent to answer them, those being the Croatian Employers Association, domestic and foreign investors, commercial banks and trade unions.
The ministry gave details of seven important reforms it deems necessary, which the World Bank did not sufficiently take into account -- registration of business enterprises, issuing of permits and licences, ownership registration, loan granting, investor protection, tax policy, and compliance with contractual obligations.
The statement says that the World Bank report did note that the introduction of the Hitro.hr one-stop-shop system simplified and accelerated start-up procedures for opening new businesses, but that it failed to emphasise the positive results of that system.
Now it takes no more than four steps to start a business while previously it took 12, registration of a company takes only five days as opposed to 40 days in the past, and registration of a small business can be completed in just two days. Since the introduction of the Hitro.hr system, 9,500 new companies and small businesses have been registered, including 250 firms owned by foreign investors, according to the statement.
The World Bank report says that ownership registration takes 399 days, which the ministry says is not true. Ownership registration with small municipal courts takes no more than two days, while registration with courts in large towns and cities takes up to ten days, the ministry insists, stressing that the digitisation of land books is under way for all 106 municipal courts.
The purpose of the land book reform is to clear the existing backlog of cases by the end of this year, the statement said.
On the subject of loan granting, the ministry recalled that a loan register had been introduced this summer and that certain commercial banks had shortened loan granting procedures for entrepreneurs to two days.