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中广网华盛顿9月29日消息 中国广播网作为授权单位之一，发布世界银行最新发布的年度报告《2005年世界发展报告》得出的结论是，为实现加速增长和减少贫困的目的，就要求各国政府减少各类企业（包括农户、小企业家、地方制造企业和跨国公司）面临的政策性风险，降低成本，消除竞争障碍。
报告特别指出，在中国，产权改革启动了一个使4亿人口脱贫的进程。中国证明了改善投资环境对加快增长和减贫产生的重要影响。中国在过去20年进行的投资环境改革帮助4亿人口摆脱了贫困。根据官方报道，中国在过去20年增长速度平均达到8％，每天收入低于1美元的人口比例从1981年的64％下降到2001年的16％。中国首先是承认一大部分人享有的基本财产权，后来又推出了若干鼓励民营企业发展的改革举措。中国为吸引外国直接投资，改进工商监管，改善基础设施作出了努力，加入了世贸组织，并致力于遏制腐败和提高透明度。其投资环境并未达到十全十美，但坚持不懈地推进改革带来了巨大的效益。
世界银行高级副行长兼首席经济学家弗朗索瓦·布吉尼翁在发布该报告时指出：“良好的投资环境对于增长与减贫具有十分重要的意义。一个充满活力的私营部门可以创造就业岗位，提供改善生活水平所需要的物资和服务，通过纳税为卫生、教育及其他服务领域公共投资提供资金来源。不过，政府往往通过制造毫无理由的风险、成本和竞争障碍而影响了这些贡献”。
这份题为《改善投资环境，促使人人受益》的报告援引对53个发展中国家近3万家企业的调查数据、国别案例研究以及其他最新研究成果，明确指出政府有机会改善投资环境，就是要给各种类型的企业更多的机会和激励来进行生产性投资，创造就业岗位，扩大生产规模。
政策性风险是发展中国家的企业关心的主要问题。政府政策内容和实施的不确定性是被列为首要关心的问题，其他主要的风险包括宏观经济不稳定、监管法规的随意性以及缺乏产权保护。这些风险影响了商机，也打击了企业投资和创造就业的热情。危地马拉近90％的企业以及白俄罗斯和赞比亚70％多的企业感到对于监管法规的解释很难预测。孟加拉80％多的企业以及厄瓜多尔和摩尔多瓦70％多的企业对法院能否维护他们的财产权益缺乏信心。报告发现，仅提高政策的可预见性一项就能使新增投资的几率提高30％以上。
企业承担的政策性成本也是十分可观的，从而使得许多潜在的投资机会无利可图。本月早些时候发布的世行《2005年全球企业经营环境报告》凸显了陈旧过时或设计不当的监管法规强加给企业的沉重负担。《2005年世界发展报告》表明，这些法规只是一个更宏观的问题的一个方面。
不可靠的电力供应及其他基础设施、腐败和犯罪造成的成本可能不止两倍于监管造成的成本代价。加上合同执行不力和监管法规的繁琐，这些成本的总额可能超过销售额25％的比例，或者相当于企业正常缴税的三倍多。在厄立特里亚、印度和肯尼亚，断电带来的成本损失在销售额的10％以上，在亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆和秘鲁，犯罪造成的成本损失超过销售额的10％，在阿尔及利亚、柬埔寨和尼加拉瓜，行贿费用在销售额的6％以上。
竞争障碍也普遍存在，并对企业创新和提高生产率（可持续经济增长的关键）的积极性产生负面影响。高风险和高成本限制了竞争，而政府通过对市场准入和退出的政策性障碍，并由于在限制企业反竞争行为方面缺乏力度，也使得竞争受到限制。在波兰有近90％的企业反映竞争压力很大，而在格鲁吉亚只有一半的企业有这种反映。报告认为，增加竞争压力能够把创新的几率提高50％以上。
成本、风险和竞争障碍的高低和构成不仅仅在各国之间有很大差异，而且在各国国内也有很大区别。不仅在巴西、中国和印度的各省（州、邦）之间如此，在小国家的各地区之间亦然。中央和省（州、邦）政府在改善投资环境方面各自都有着重要作用。
恶劣的投资环境对于小企业以及非正规经济的企业影响最大。报告认为，这些企业在获取融资和公共服务方面遇到的困难更大，对法院更缺乏信心，感觉对监管法规的解释更难预测。涉及到固定成本（比如需要自己发电）的制约因素也对小企业造成了更大的负担。
改善投资环境不仅仅是要修改正式的政策
报告的主要作者华里克·史密斯说：“90％以上的企业都反映在政策和实际之间是有差距的，而且在许多发展中国家非正规经济在产出中占一半以上。政府需要缩小这些差距，并且正视有可能影响投资环境的政策失误的深层根源。”
尽管许多改善投资环境的措施都需要修改法律和政策，报告主要提出了政府改善投资环境必须应对的四项深层的挑战：
· 遏制腐败和其他形式的寻租行为。发展中国家的大多数企业都反映在与政府官员打交道时不得不行贿，许多企业认为腐败是最迫切需要解决的障碍。由于有政治联系的企业施加的不成比例的影响也造成了政策扭曲。
· 建立政府政策的公信力。如果企业不相信法律会被执行或者具有持久效力，那么通过新的法律就毫无意义。
· 为改进政策培育公众支持。不能为创造一个生产率更高的社会建立公众支持，就会拖延改革的步伐，危及改革的可持续性。
· 确保政策回应适合本国情况。从别国不加批判地引进各种模式往往会带来不良或负面的结果。
集中精力做好基础工作
各国政府应集中精力做好基础工作，以培育一个有益于所有企业和经济活动的良好的投资环境，使所有企业和经济活动都能受益。报告审视了在四个核心领域的经验教训。
· 稳定与保障。 产权保障是建立良好的投资环境的核心问题。在波兰、罗马尼亚、俄罗斯、斯洛伐克和乌克兰，相信其产权得到保障的企业比不相信这一点的企业进行利润再投资的比例高14－40％。通过核实土地和其他财产权，改进合同的执行，降低犯罪率，限制政府征用，就可以加强权益保障。
· 监管与税收。监管和税收对建立良好的投资环境和实现其他社会目标具有重要贡献。但是，不同的方式往往造成不必要的成本、风险和竞争障碍，导致非正规经济的膨胀。成功的改革举措包括精简监管程序（比如在乌干达和越南），改进税收监管（比如在肯尼亚和秘鲁），实现海关管理现代化（比如在摩洛哥和加纳）。
· 金融与基础设施。金融和基础设施是大多数投资活动的关键投入。政府通过改善这些服务提供者的投资环境，而不是自己更直接地参与服务提供，就能收到更好的效果。
· 工人与劳动力市场。良好的投资环境有助于建立人民与体面的就业岗位之间的联系。政府需要培育一支技术工人队伍，确保对劳动力市场的干预有益于全体工人（包括目前就业不足和非正规部门的工人）。他们还需要帮助工人在蓬勃发展的经济中提高应变能力。
报告警告说，跨过这些基础工作，让特定企业或活动成为特殊的政策特权的对象，这是一种有风险的策略。
世界银行兼国际金融公司主管私营部门发展的副行长、国际金融公司首席经济学家迈克尔·克莱恩说：“几个世纪以来，各国政府一直在尝试采取有选择的干预措施。但是国际经验显示稳操胜券的策略是没有的，而且在很多实例中此类干预措施导致了显著的错误”。报告审视了从一系列方式获取的经验，在减少这些策略的内在风险的方式方面提供了指南。
关键是坚持不懈，而不是力求完美
报告列举中国、印度、乌干达等国家的成功例子，强调并非所有工作都需要一蹴而就。相反，可以首先着手解决企业面对的主要制约，通过维持一个连续不断的改进过程，就能取得重大进展。在中国，产权改革启动了一个使4亿人口脱贫的进程，在初始阶段的改革之后采取了一系列覆盖投资环境多个方面的改进措施。
由于企业面临的主要制约往往因国家而异，甚至在一个地区内也有很大差别，因此需要根据具体情况确定优先重点。为了保持改革势头，包括差异很大的塞内加尔、土耳其和越南在内的各国都建立了专门机构来与各利益相关者磋商，审视制约因素。报告认为，有效的公众沟通在保持这一进程中也起着至关重要的作用。
国际社会应提供更多帮助
由于国家投资环境改善所释放出来的增长与减贫效益很容易就会使国际援助资金相形见绌。报告呼吁国际社会在帮助发展中国家改善投资环境上加大力度，主要通过：
· 取消发达国家的贸易限制、补贴及其他市场扭曲行为，因为这些损害了发展中国家的投资环境。这样做为发展中国家带来的收益的价值是他们获得的用于改善投资环境的援助额的四倍多。
· 提供更多和更有效的援助来帮助政府改善投资环境。为设计和实施政策改善所提供的技术援助可以具有特殊的强大效力，但是目前获得的资源却少于直接提供给各个企业和交易的支持。
· 为投资环境问题上的庞大的知识议程提供帮助，从而在政策改进的设计和实施方面为政策制定者提供更多的指导。
地区视角
东亚和太平洋地区
在1998－2002的五年间，东亚地区的私人投资平均占到GDP的14％。同期，外国直接投资平均占到GDP的3.3％。在印尼和菲律宾，在非正规部门的就业比例占到非农业劳动力的78％。
部分投资环境指标
《2005年世界发展报告》的附录之一摘录了世界银行投资环境调查和经营环境数据库的指标。对于本地区的调查结果包括：
投资环境调查
- 在柬埔寨（2003年）、中国（2002和03年）、印尼（2004年）、马来西亚（2003年）和菲律宾（2003年）所作的投资环境调查覆盖了6500多家注册企业。此外，在柬埔寨和印尼还采访了250家微型企业和非正规企业。
- 政策的不确定性是首要的制约因素，本地区三分之一的企业反映这是一项主要或严重的制约因素。然而，在各国之间也存在差异；在马来西亚只有22％的企业将其列为严重或主要的制约因素，而在印尼则有48％的企业将其列为严重或主要的制约因素。
- 宏观经济不稳定被列为第二严重的制约因素。
- 腐败作为最严重的重要因素之一名列第三。尽管大多数企业都反映要办成事情就必须行贿，但东亚国家在所有被调查的国家中处于数据分布的下半部。据反映，在中国行贿在销售额中所占的比例为2.6％，在柬埔寨为6％。
- 表示对法院维护其财产权有信心的企业在马来西亚和中国占80％以上，在印尼为60％，在柬埔寨为40％。
- 经理人员与政府官员打交道和官僚手续花费的时间是很可观的，在马来西亚为10％，菲律宾为11％，柬埔寨为14％，中国为19％。
企业经营环境数据库
- 注册一家企业所需的时间在老挝为198天，印尼为151天，中国为41天，韩国为22天。
- 财产登记所需的时间在马来西亚为143天，在泰国为2天。
报告援引中国的经验证明改善投资环境可以带来的收益：
- 中国证明了改善投资环境对加快增长和减贫产生的重要影响。中国在过去20年进行的投资环境改革帮助4亿人口摆脱了贫困。根据官方报道，中国在过去20年增长速度平均达到8％，每天收入低于1美元的人口比例从1981年的64％下降到2001年的16％。
- 其次，要实现这些收益并不要求做到尽善尽美。关键是要解决重要的制约因素，给企业以投资的信心，并在初始阶段的改革完成之后持续不断地进行改善。中国首先是承认一大部分人享有的基本财产权，后来又推出了若干鼓励民营企业发展的改革举措。中国为吸引外国直接投资，改进工商监管，改善基础设施作出了努力，加入了世贸组织，并致力于遏制腐败和提高透明度。其投资环境并未达到十全十美，但坚持不懈地推进改革带来了巨大的效益。
将调查对政策性成本和风险的客观衡量指标与企业绩效指标联系起来，就可以对投资环境条件改善可能产生的贡献率进行模拟。例如，如果北京附近的大型港口城市天津能够实现与上海相同的投资环境，企业生产率就能提高15％，销售增长提高20％。
报告显示，改善投资环境的回报可能会使国际援助资金的影响相形见绌。在中国或韩国，仅制造业的附加价值一项就远远超过了国际援助额。
附英文新闻稿
EASING POLICY RISKS, COSTS AND BARRIERS TO COMPETITION KEYS TO FASTER GROWTH, LESS POVERTY:
WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2005
WASHINGTON, September 28, 2004 — Accelerating growth and poverty reduction requires governments to reduce the policy risks, costs, and barriers to competition facing firms of all types—from farmers and micro-entrepreneurs to local manufacturing companies and multinationals—concludes the World Bank’s annual World Development Report for 2005, launched here today.
“A good investment climate is central to growth and poverty reduction,” said Fran?ois Bourguignon, the World Bank’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, in presenting the Report. “A vibrant private sector creates jobs, provides the goods and services needed to improve living standards, and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. But too often governments stunt the size of those contributions by creating unjustified risks, costs, and barriers to competition.”
The Report, A Better Investment Climate for Everyone, draws on surveys of over 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, the Bank's Doing Business database, country case studies, and other new research. It highlights opportunities for governments to improve their investment climates by expanding the opportunities and incentives for firms of all types to invest productively, create jobs, and expand.
Policy-related risks dominate the concerns of firms in developing countries. Uncertainty about the content and implementation of government policies is the top-rated concern, with other significant risks including macroeconomic instability, arbitrary regulation, and weak protection of property rights. These risks cloud opportunities and chill incentives to invest productively and create jobs. Nearly 90 percent of firms in Guatemala, and more than 70 percent of firms in Belarus and Zambia, find the interpretation of regulation unpredictable. More than 80 percent of firms in Bangladesh, and over 70 percent of firms in Ecuador and Moldova, lack confidence in the courts to uphold their property rights. Improving policy predictability alone can increase the likelihood of new investment by more than 30 percent, the Report found.
The policy-related costs shouldered by firms can also be substantial, and make many potential investment opportunities unprofitable. The Bank’s Doing Business in 2005 report, published earlier this month, highlighted the heavy burden imposed by outmoded or ill-conceived regulation. The World Development Report 2005 shows that regulation is part of a larger problem.
Unreliable electricity supply and other infrastructure, crime, and corruption can impose costs that are more than double those of regulation. Together with weak contract enforcement and onerous regulation, these costs can amount to over 25 percent of sales—or more than three times what firms typically pay in taxes. The costs associated with unreliable electricity supply alone amount to over 10 percent of sales in Eritrea, India, and Kenya, while the costs of crime exceed 10 percent of sales in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Peru. Bribes average more than six percent of sales in Algeria, Cambodia, and Nicaragua.
Barriers to competition arealsopervasive and dull incentives for firms to innovate and increase their productivity—the key to sustainable growth. High risks and costs restrict competition, but governments also limit competition through policy barriers to market entry and exit, and through inadequate efforts to curb anticompetitive behavior by firms. Nearly 90 percent of firms in Poland report strong competitive pressure, more than twice the share of firms in Georgia. Stronger competitive pressure can increase the probability of innovation by more than 50 percent, the Report found.
The level and composition of risks, costs, and barriers to competition vary widely not only across countries, but also within countries. This is true among states and provinces in Brazil, China, and India, but also across locations in smaller countries. National and sub-national governments each have important roles to play in improving the investment climate.
Poor investment climates also hit small firms and those in the informal economy the hardest. The Report found that these firms have more difficulty gaining access to finance and public services, have less confidence in the courts, and find the interpretation of regulation less predictable. Constraints that involve fixed costs—such as the need to self-generate electricity—also impose a disproportionate burden on smaller firms.
Progress requires more than changes to formal policies
“Over 90 percent of firms report gaps between policy and practice, and the informal economy accounts for more than half of output in many developing countries. Governments need to close these gaps and confront deeper sources of policy failure that can undermine the investment climate,” said Warrick Smith, lead author of the Report.
While many investment climate improvements require changes to laws and policies, the Report highlights four deeper challenges that governments need to address to improve their investment climates:
· Restraining corruption and other forms of rent-seeking. The majority of firms in developing countries report having to pay bribes when dealing with officials, and many rate corruption as their most pressing obstacle. Policies and their implementation are also distorted by the disproportionate influence exercised by politically-connected firms.
· Building the credibility of government policies. Passing new laws has little impact if firms don’t believe they will be enforced or sustained.
· Fostering public support for policy improvements. Failure to build public support for creating a more productive society slows reforms and jeopardizes their sustainability.
· Ensuring policy responses are adapted to local conditions. Approaches that are transplanted uncritically from other countries often lead to poor or perverse results.
Focus on delivering the basics
Governments should focus on improving the basic foundations of a good investment climate to benefit all firms and activities in the economy. The Report reviews lessons of experience in the four core areas:
· Stability and security. Secure property rights are central to a good investment climate. In Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine firms that believed their rights were secure reinvested between 14 and 40 percent more of their profits than those that did not. Rights can be made more secure by verifying rights to land and other property, improving contract enforcement, reducing crime, and restraining expropriation by government.
· Regulation and taxation. Regulation and taxation make important contributions to a good investment climate and to other social goals. But too often approaches create unnecessary risks, costs, and barriers to competition, and lead to a swelling of the informal economy. Successful reforms include those that streamline regulatory procedures, as in Uganda and Vietnam, improve tax administration, as in Kenya and Peru, and modernize customs administration, as in Morocco and Ghana.
· Finance and infrastructure. Finance and infrastructure are critical inputs to most investment activities. Governments are getting better results by improving the investment climate for providers of these services, rather than by involving themselves more directly in service provision.
· Workers and labor markets. A good investment climate helps connect people to decent jobs. Governments need to foster a skilled workforce and ensure that labor market interventions benefit all workers (including those currently under-employed and in the informal economy). They also need to help workers cope with change in a more dynamic economy.
Going beyond the basics by targeting particular firms or activities for special policy privileges is a risky strategy, the Report warns.
“Governments have been experimenting with selective interventions for centuries. But international experience reveals no sure-fire strategies—and many cases where such interventions have gone spectacularly wrong,” said Michael Klein, World Bank/International Finance Corporation Vice President for Private Sector Development and IFC Chief Economist. The Report reviews experience with a range of approaches and offers guidelines on ways to reduce the risks inherent with such strategies.
Persistence, not perfection, is the key
Citing the success of countries such as China, India, and Uganda, the Report emphasizes that everything does not have to be done at once. Rather, significant progress can be made by addressing important constraints that face firms, and by sustaining a process of ongoing improvements. Improving property rights in China launched a process that lifted 400 million people out of poverty, with initial reforms followed by a succession of ongoing improvements covering most aspects of its investment climate.
Because the main constraints facing firms can vary widely across countries, even in a single region, priorities need to be assessed in each case. To maintain the momentum of reform, countries as diverse as Senegal, Turkey, and Vietnam have established dedicated institutions for engaging stakeholders and reviewing constraints. Effective public communication also plays a vital role in sustaining progress, the Report says.
The international community should do more to help
The growth and poverty reduction unleashed by investment climate improvements in a country can easily dwarf the impact of international aid flows. The Report calls on the international community to strengthen efforts to help developing countries improve their investment climates by:
· Removing trade restrictions, subsidies and other market distortions in developed countries that harm investment climates in developing countries. This can deliver benefits to developing countries worth more than four times the value of aid they receive to improve their investment climates.
· Providing more, and more effective, assistance to help governments improve their investment climates. Technical assistance on the design and implementation of policy improvements can be especially potent, but currently receives fewer resources than the support directed to individual firms and transactions.
· Helping to tackle the huge knowledge agenda on investment climate issues to provide more guidance to policymakers on the design and implementation of policy improvements.
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES
EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Private investment in East Asia averaged 14 percent of GDP in the five-year period from 1998 to 2002. Foreign direct investment averaged 3.3 percent of GDP during the same period. The informal sector employs up to 78 percent of the non-agricultural workforce in Indonesia and 72 percent in the Philippines.
Selected investment climate indicators
An annex to the World Development Report 2005 contains indicators from the World Bank’s Investment Climate Surveys and the Doing Business Database. Findings for the region include:
Investment Climate Surveys
The Investment Climate Surveys in Cambodia (2003), China (2002, 2003), Indonesia (2004), Malaysia (2003) and the Philippines (2003), cover over 6500 registered firms. In addition, 250 micro and informal firms were interviewed in both Cambodia and Indonesia.
Policy uncertainty is the leading constraint overall, with one in three firms in the region reporting it as a major or severe constraint. However, there are variations across countries; only 22 percent of firms in Malaysia ranked it as a severe or major constraint while 48 percent did in Indonesia.
Macroeconomic instability ranked as the second most severe constraint.
Corruption ranked as the third most severe constraint. While the majority of firms report that bribes need to get paid to ‘get things done’, countries in East Asia ranked in the bottom half of the distribution across all countries surveyed. The share of sales paid in bribes is reported as 2.6 percent in China and six percent in Cambodia.
Confidence that courts will uphold property rights is expressed by more than 80 percent of firms in Malaysia and China, 60 percent in Indonesia and 40 percent in Cambodia.
The time that management spends dealing with officials and red tape can be substantial, from 10 percent in Malaysia, 11 percent in the Philippines, 14 percent in Cambodia and 19 percent in China.
Doing Business Database
Registering a business takes 198 days in Laos, 151 in Indonesia, 41 in China and 22 in South Korea.
Registering property takes 143 days in Malaysia and 2 days in Thailand.
The Report cites China’s experience to demonstrate the potential returns to investment climate improvements:
· China demonstrates the significant impact of investment climate improvements in increasing growth and poverty reduction. China’s investment climate reforms over the last two decades helped lift 400 million people out of poverty. China’s growth is officially reported at an average of eight percent a year for the past 20 years, and the share of its population below $1 a day fell from 64 percent in 1981 to 16 per cent in 2001.
· Second, perfection is not required to realize these gains. The key is to address important constraints in ways that give firms confidence to invest and to follow initial reforms with ongoing improvements. China began by recognizing rudimentary property rights for a large share of its population. It has since introduced a number of reforms to encourage the development of private business. It was worked to attract FDI, improve business regulations and infrastructure, joined the WTO and worked to tackle corruption and improve transparency. Its investment climate is still not perfect. But the persistence of its reform process has yielded enormous benefits.
Linking the surveys’ objective measures of policy-related costs and risks to firm performance measures, the possible contributions of changing investment climate conditions can be simulated. For example, if Tianjin, a large port city east of Beijing, could achieve the same investment climate as Shanghai, firm-level productivity could increase by 15 percent and sales growth by 20 percent.
The Report shows that the returns to investment climate improvements can dwarf the impact of international aid flows. The manufacturing value added in China or South Korea alone dwarf global aid flows.
