Sub-Saharan African economies have adopted a record number of business reforms for a second consecutive year, according to the 15th anniversary edition of the World Bank Group’s annual Doing Business report.
“Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs” lists Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia among the world’s global top 10 improvers, with most of the reforms relating to provision of credit within the countries.
South Africa also implemented credit reforms “by introducing a requirement that lenders check the overall debt of customers before granting them a loan and by guaranteeing borrowers the right to access and challenge their credit records,” according to the study.
The biggest reformers in the region were Rwanda, with 52 reforms in 15 years, followed by Kenya with 32 reforms and Mauritius with 31.
“The reform effort in sub-Saharan Africa is singularly worth celebrating as the region is beset with myriad crises, including conflict and violence,” said Rita Ramalho, acting director of the World Bank’s Global Indicators Group, which produces the report.
Reforms that have made it easier to trade across borders include Zambia’s implementation of ASYCUDA, while Angola and Mozambique have improved their port infrastructure.
Kenya reduced the time for import documentary compliance by implementing a single window system.
Mauritius, the region’s top-ranked economy, improved processes to facilitate cross-border trade.
Mauritius also made it easier to transfer property by reducing the transfer tax, implementing a complaint mechanism and publishing service standards.
In the ease of doing business global rankings, Mauritius is in 25th place, followed by Rwanda (41), and Kenya (80) as the region’s top ranked economies.
South Africa is ranked fourth at 82nd and ranks around 26th in sub-Saharan Africa in the Ease of Trading Across Borders (147th world-wide) category.
The other top-ranking countries in this category are South Africa’s neighbours Swaziland (32nd globally), Lesotho (40), and Botswana (50). Namibia is ranked 132nd.
