The Romanian business environment is still burdened by an excessive bundle of taxes and levies, reveal WB statistics, ACT Media news agency reports.

World Bank statistic place Romania sixth in the world by the number of levies on companies, outpaced only by Uzbekistan, Byelorussia, Ukraine, Congo and Benin in this undesirable performance. At the opposite end of the list stand the Maldives - with just one tax, and the troubled Afghanistan – with two annual taxes levied on a medium-sized company. Next in the ranking are Norway with three taxes and Sweden with five.

In Romania, a medium sized company must pay about 89 taxes a year; according to the report, figures are 130 in Uzbekistan and 125 in Byelorussia Ukraine, Congo and Benin. Countries like Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom report some 12 taxes in average.

The excessive number of taxes is not the only problem faced by companies, but also the long time required to work out payment documents: 930 hours in the Czech Republic, 878 hours in Malawi, China, Venezuela, Mauritania and Senegal. In Romania, this time is 198 hours, but there are countries with speedy paperwork like the Maldives - less than one hour, or the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Santa Lucia, Oman and Dominica – 12 hours. In Romania the total tax rate represents 48.9 pct of a company’s profit.