Germany has made outstanding progress in improving conditions for companies doing business there and has been listed by the World Bank as a "top reformer" of its labour market, a German newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The new World Bank report, which the Handelsblatt newspaper said would be released later in Washington, could be seized upon by Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who is lagging in voter preference polls ahead of a general election on Sunday, partly due to discontent with his labour reforms.
"Something has simply happened in Germany, especially on the labour market," World Bank Vice President Michael Klein told the newspaper. "When one compares the reforms in Germany with those of other countries, there were relatively considerable."
The World Bank study, called "Doing Business in 2006", compared conditions for doing business in 155 countries and praised Germany as a top reformer of its labour market, Handelsblatt said.