Nigeria and Togo among most improved in ease of conducting biz, reveals World Bank

Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa observed developing the business atmosphere with Nigeria gaining the first position among the year's top global performers. According to the World Bank Group's Doing Business Daily, Togo stands next among all the African countries.

Economies of the region enacted 73 reforms in the 12 months leading to May 1, down from a record high of 108, and the number of countries implementing at least one reform fell to 31 from 40. The regional average ease of doing business score was 51.8 on a scale of 0 to 100, below the OECD high-income average of 78.4 and the global average of 63.0.

Togo, a West African nation on the Gulf of Guinea, is on the list of top improvers for the second year in a row. The experts believe the result in Togo is the outcome of the reforms lowering fees for construction permits and streamlining property registration procedures, among other measures. Nigeria conducted reforms impacting six indicators, including making the enforcement of contracts easier, which placed the 200-million-person economy among the world's top improvers.

Apart from Togo and Nigeria, Kenya even carried out six reforms, including improving the reliability of its electricity supply and introducing an online system for social security contributions, positioning it third highest in the regional rankings, behind Mauritius and Rwanda. Mauritius remains the easiest place to do business in the region, ranking 13^th globally with the implementation of four reforms in 2019. Among other reforms, the country made resolving insolvency easier and improved contract enforcement.

Elsewhere, Cabo Verde and Eswatini each carried out four reforms, a record for both. Zimbabwe improved in five areas measured by Doing Business while the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Rwanda advanced in three. Due to active reform efforts, Niger's and Senegal's scores improved significantly.

The region conducted the most reforms in the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits and getting credit, with twelve reforms in each. Thanks to initiatives led by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, getting credit became easier in several economies in the region.

The region's economies performed best in the areas of starting a business and getting credit, with three economies – Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia – ranking among the world's top 10 in the latter category. On average, it now takes around 20 days and costs 33.5 percent of income per capita to start a new business in the region, substantially faster and less expensive than the 62 days and 305 percent of income per capita it took in 2003.

"With reforms led by the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa last year and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community this year, economies in Sub-Saharan Africa have demonstrated how regional cooperation can help to effectively improve the business climate," Santiago Croci Downes, Program Manager of the Doing Business unit opined.