SA still faces several ‘doing business’ challenges – World Bank

There are still several challenges facing entrepreneurs doing business in South Africa, according to the World Bank’s latest ‘Doing Business in South Africa 2015’ report.

The report benchmarks nine of the country’s largest urban areas and four ports across six ‘Doing Business’ topics namely: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, enforcing contracts and trading across borders.

While no city outperforms the others in all areas benchmarked, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane lead in starting a business, Cape Town in dealing with construction permits, Mangaung in getting electricity and enforcing contracts, and Johannesburg in registering property.

According to the report, local reforms would not only improve the business environment within South Africa, but also make a significant difference on the global scale. “If a South African city was to adopt the good practices found across the nine cities in dealing with construction permits, getting electricity and enforcing contracts, it would surpass the average performance of the OECD high-income economies in all three areas,” reads the report.

However, notable challenges remain. Firms across South Africa still face inefficient and complex red tape securing electricity, registering property and trading across borders.