World Bank's 'Doing Business 2014' report for Greece

Greece rose to the 72nd position in the World Bank's Doing Business annual ranking report for 2014, from 89th in the 2013 report, released recently, which measures how easy it is to set up and run a business in 189 countries globally.

The ranking was based on 10 indicators or topics and include considerations of how easy it is to set up a new business, how long it takes and what the start-up costs are.

Greece's highest ranking in the categories is for ease of starting a business (36th, from 147th in 2013) and in trading across borders (52nd). It also showed a significant rise in the category of protecting investors (80th, from 113th in 2013).

In the paying taxes category, the report found that despite a rise in ranking from 56th in 2013 to 53rd, Greece made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing the corporate income tax rate, though it also reduced the employers' contribution rate to the Social Security Fund (IKA).

In other categories, Greece dropped in rank as follows, with two exceptions: Dealing with construction permits (66th, from 58th in 2013); getting credit (86th from 82nd); enforcing contracts (98th from 91st); and resolving insolvency (87th from 63rd, the largest drop in all categories). The two exceptions are getting electricity (61th) and registering property (161st), which remained the same.