OREANDA-NEWS. October 31, 2014. World Bank Group's annual Doing Business report measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it was published today. In comparison of business regulations and protection of property rights across 189 economies, Estonia is ranked 17th, one place down from last year.

Each economy is evaluated based on how close their business regulations are to the best global practices. They are given the distance to frontier (DTF) score. Estonia's DFT score is 78.84 - 0.3 percent more than last year - and, along with Denmark and Singapore, it sets the frontier for time it takes to export goods.

Doing Business 2015 measured regulations affecting 10 categories: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Estonia's received its best rankings in trading across borders (6th) and registering property (13th), and worst in getting electricity and protecting minority investors (both 56th).

The list is topped once again by Singapore with DTF score 88.27, followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark and South Korea. Of the immediate neighbors Finland is 9th, Sweden 11th, Latvia 23rd, Lithuania 24th and Russia 62nd.