15% in the CIS-7 on average against an average of 6% for the other CIS countries and the non CIS countries alike (WDI).

_Banking efficiency_ . The BEEPS asked enterprises about the average number of days necessary to make a bank transfer locally. Bank transfers within countries are usually made within three working days in the CIS-7. This is a reasonable time and also a relatively better performance than in other CIS countries and also relative to non CIS countries. Armenia and Moldova are two countries where a larger share of firms declared that bank transfers take more than three days while Uzbekistan seems the country within the CIS-7 where bank transfers are within the three days limit according to almost all enterprises surveyed (94%).

_Tax level and regulations_ : When asked about what is the major obstacle to growth, enterprises in the BEEPS put high taxes and tax regulations and administration at the top of the list in virtually all transitional economies. In this respect, the CIS-7 are not different from other groups of transitional economies. Instead, tax rates are generally lower in the CIS-7 than elsewhere for both the corporate and personal income tax rates. Data on social security contributions are scattered but the CIS-7 pay evidently less than other transitional economies also in this respect while the cumulated collection of other forms of taxes seems to be higher among the CIS-7 than elsewhere in transition (WDI). Thus, the CIS-7 probably rely more on indirect taxation than on direct taxation, a typical feature of developing and largely informal economies.

# **Institutional barriers**

_Governance_ . CIS-7 firms tend to be relatively unhappy about government performance with few exceptions. The perception of governance is rather diverse across transitional economies and also among the CIS-7. Generally, the majority of firms rank the government performance as inefficient and CIS-7 countries firms tend to be more pessimistic with the exception of firms in Uzbekistan where the large majority think that the government is efficient. Firms in Azerbaijan are also relatively optimistic while in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova firms are mostly very negative about the government. The CIS-7 also stand out for the ranking of the central government leaders. These are generally relatively well ranked in other countries while in the CIS-7 they are ranked as the third worst public service in a list of 17 public services. This finding is fairly consistent in all the CIS-7 with the exception of Uzbekistan. Parliaments are usually better ranked by enterprises but this is a common feature in all transitional economies. Also, in the CIS-7, the actual power of parliaments is relatively modest with presidents and -to a lesser extents- governments concentrating most of the executive and legislative (initiative) powers.

_Government meddling in business matters_ . With some exceptions, government intervention is not very heavy in matters related to firms direct activities such as investments, employment, sales, pricing, dividends and wages. In this respect, the CIS-7 do not differ a great deal from other transitional economies although they differ from other CIS countries because the latter seem to express a higher degree of control of the state over these functions. One exception in the CIS-7 is Uzbekistan where the state evidently interfere much more with management functions according to the enterprises interviewed in this country. This may also be due to the larger share of state ownership present in the Uzbek sample. The country where the government seems to be less intrusive in the CIS-7 is Armenia where also the share of state owned enterprises in the sample is relatively small.

_Corruption_ . Enterprises' perception of corruption is on average higher in the CIS-7 than elsewhere in transitional economies. It is particularly high in Azerbaijan where almost 60% of firms declared that it is common (always, mostly or frequently) to pay 'irregular' payments. Uzbekistan 20