“Governments across the transition region are continuing to improve the local business environment in an attempt to unleash the full productive capacity of the private sector. This report summarises feedback from the managers of firms in 29 transition countries about what they regard as the main improvements – and the remaining challenges – in the business environment that they experience on a daily basis. Across the board, managers reported that they were most constrained by (i) unfair competition from the informal sector, (ii) limited access to credit and (iii) expensive or unreliable electricity supply. In the wake of the global financial crisis, governments in the transition region are continuing to search for ways to resuscitate economic growth. One course of action is to create a more conducive business environment, which can boost growth by establishing competitive and fair conditions for all businesses. This report summarises the key results of the fifth round of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS V), which was conducted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank Group in 29 countries. The survey was conducted in Russia in 2011-12 and in 2013-14 in all other countries. Senior managers were interviewed at more than 15,500 randomly selected firms. Those firms – all of which had at least five employees – spanned 29 of the EBRD’s countries of operations. Chart 1 shows the geographical coverage of the BEEPS V survey. Managers were asked for their views on topics such as infrastructure, competition, sales and supplies, labour, innovation, land and permits, crime, finance, and relations between business and government. They were also asked about the management practices in their firms.”