Released annually, the Doing Business report examines regulations that support businesses in the concerned economies including start-up and operations, taxes, trading across borders and resolving insolvency. Countries are ranked based on how they perform in a set of such criteria.
The report titled “Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency,” which covers 189 countries, posits that Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo rank among the top 10 improvers globally as they had significantly boosted business regulation in the past year.
According to the report, all countries in the sub-Saharan African region have promoted the environment for Small & Medium sized businesses since 2005 with Rwanda leading the way in this effort and Mauritius and Sierra Leone coming in second and third. Also, about 11 countries in
the region have featured on the list of the 10 global top improvers with the likes of Cape Verde, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire and Rwanda appearing multiple times.
“Sub-Saharan African economies have come a long way in reducing burdensome business regulations. Our data show that Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the largest number of regulatory reforms making it easier to do business in the past year, with 75 of the 230 documented worldwide. Yet despite broad regulatory reform agendas, challenges persist in the region, where business incorporation continues to be costlier and more complex on average than in any other region,” said Melissa Johns, Advisor, Global Indicators Group, Development Economics, World Bank Group.
The World Bank Group has made some notable improvements in this year’s report. For the 11 economies, the report, for the first time, collated data for a second city. For instance, data was acquired from Nigeria’s Kano city in addition to the commercial hub, Lagos. Also, overall ranking is now based on the “distance to frontier” score where each economy is ranked based on how close it is to global best practices in business regulation; therefore, a higher score suggests a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions.
Globally, Singapore tops the scale as easiest place to do business in the world. Other top economies with high business regulatory ranking includes Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Denmark, New Zealand, China, the Republic of Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.
By Emmanuel Iruobe
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