Tomorrow, the World Bank will issue its annual Ease of Doing Business classification.

As usual, we will not go beyond the mere summary classification for Malta and that will be that. A mere 10-second interest span, if anything, on the evening news.

The most engrossing news however will be buried in the plethora of details and figures in the ranking. We point out, even though the press release has not yet been published, at the problems concerning the ease of doing business with regards to banking, financial services and the like.

There is no reason to risk making undue speculation for we have been in this same rut for years now, and the situation remains basically the same.

For all the good intentions and optimist sound-bites, we have not budged much from where we were a decade or so ago.

The problems that businessmen face from banks, from government offices, from regulators, etc are endemic. The only way to tackle them is by deep surgery and no government seems willing to do so.

Take the Law Courts: despite the increase in magistrates and judges, we still cannot say that court cases have been expedited. On the contrary, at the recent inauguration of the Forensic Year, it was pointed out there is now a growth industry among lawyers, who to spin out a court case by creating all sorts of diversions.

Take the banks: it is still very difficult for a foreigner, a newcomer, to get a bank account in Malta. The requirements this foreigner is asked for are time-wasting and daunting. And yet, from media reports of investigations in other countries, it would seem that some miscreants do succeed in getting a bank account, only then to misuse it.

On a general level, we are still dominated by a paper culture, which is absolutely out of place in this digital age. This brings us to yet another sector very much linked to businesses - the notaries. Basically, and this is what notaries themselves tell, most of their work could be simplified had there been a real will to streamline the processes. Some years back, the notaries themselves drew up a plan for this, but so much opposition was raised, the plan fell through.

We are a small country. It should not be that difficult to streamline processes and iron out the kinks in the system. Yet either through indolence, or subdued lethargy, or through special interest groups, or more probably because the politicians who work on a five-year time span, cannot be bothered to study the situation, understand the dimensions of the problem and act decisively.