Doing Business In Africa

World Bank / IFC writes:

Last year and the year before, Africa lagged behind all other regions in the pace of reform. This year it ranks third, behind only Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the OECD high-income countries (figure 1.2). Two-thirds of African countries made at least one reform, and Tanzania and Ghana rank among the top 10 reformers.

Some examples of what African countries reformed include:

In Côte d’Ivoire registering property took 397 days in 2005. Reforms eliminated a requirement to obtain the urban minister’s consent to transfer property. Now it takes 32 days.

Burkina Faso cut the procedures for starting a business from 12 to 8 and the time from 45 days to 34.

Madagascar reduced the minimum capital for start-ups from 10 million francs to 2 million.

Tanzania introduced electronic data interchange and risk-based inspections at customs. The time to clear imports fell by 12 days.

Gambia, Nigeria, and Tanzania reduced delays in the courts. More improvements are under way, and these will be reflected in the Doing Business indicators next year.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, and Zambia have all started to simplify business regulation. The easy reforms—what can be done by the stroke of a minister’s pen—are coming first. Small as these initial reforms may be, they can attract investors who seek the growth opportunities that will follow. India’s economic boom may have started with just such reforms in the 1980s.

Several African countries are more ambitious. Mauritius set a goal of reaching the top 10 on the ease of doing business by 2009. It has targeted numerous areas of reform: making labor regulation more flexible, reducing the burden of paying taxes and speeding business entry and property registration. One reform: starting in 2007 every business will receive a unique business registration number, and entrepreneurs will no longer have to register in person for the income tax, value added tax, customs and social security numbers. The aim is to have data move around inside the government, not to have entrepreneurs run around from one office to another.

More info @ http://www.doingbusiness.org/main/Africa_Reforms.aspx