How Did African Nations Perform On The 2013 Doing Business Report?

The Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises report was released on Tuesday,  by the IFC and World Bank the economies  to rate countries with the most business friendly regulations on the continent.

The report which is the 10th edition, examined regulations that apply to businesses in an economy during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and protecting investors. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on 10 indicators and cover 185 economies. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors.

Topping the list of countries that recorded the biggest improvements in the ease of doing business over the last year were Poland, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Greece, Serbia, and Kazakhstan.

Here are the lists of African counties on the list and their positions:

Mauritius -19

South Africa - 39

Rwanda - 52

Botswana - 59

Ghana - 64

Namibia - 87

Zambia - 94

Egypt - 109

Uganda - 120

Kenya - 121

Swaziland – 123

Ethiopia -127

Nigeria -131

Tanzania-134

Lesotho-136

Madagascar-142

Liberia -149

Burundi – 151

Mali - 151

Togo - 156

Malawi-157

The Comoros -158

Burundi-159

Cameroon -161

Gabon – 170

Angola – 172

Benin -175

Guinea-178

Democratic Republic of Congo -181

The Republic of Congo - 183

Chad - 184

The Central African Republic - 185

“Doing Business is about smart business regulations, not necessarily fewer regulations. We are very encouraged that so many economies in Africa are among the 50 that have made the most improvement since 2005 as captured by the Doing Business indicators,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group.

“The report, finds that from June 2011 to June 2012, 28 of 46 governments in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented at least one regulatory reform making it easier to do business—a total of 44 reforms. Burundi, with four reforms, ranks among the 10 economies worldwide that improved the most in the past year across three or more areas measured by Doing Business—the only low-income economy on the list.”

Much more can be done to enable African economies to build a strong and competitive private sector, the report concluded.

Africa however needs to