South Africa is now only the sixth easiest country in Africa to run a business — behind star performer Mauritius — and has slid eight places to 82 out of 190 countries, reveals the World Bank’s latest Doing Business report.
The report, released yesterday, puts South Africa now behind the island country, Rwanda, Morocco, Kenya (up from 92 last year, to 80th spot) and Botswana.
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Among fellow emerging economies India shot up 30 places, to 100th spot, Russia gained five places to 35 — while Brazil slid two places to 125 and China remained at 78.
In addition South Africa has slid in the ease of starting a business — from 131 to 136th position, while it now takes an average of 45 days to start a business, down from 43 days last year. In 2008 the World Bank recorded it taking 19 days to start a business in South Africa (see this article).
In terms of the cost and time to start a business, South Africa is now behind difficult places such as Angola (134 position, 35 days) and Nigeria (130, 19 days).
Here below are the top 10 easiest places to run a business in Africa, according to the World Bank.
1.Mauritius
Mauritius moved up from 49 to 25 overall position on the ease of running a business, by carrying out a string of reforms.
These the World Bank says include making it easier to start a business by exempting trade fees for licenses below 5000 Mauritian Rupees ($150) and introducing the electronic certificate of incorporation.
Registering property was also made easier, as was trading across borders. It takes just six days to start a business in Mauritius, down from seven the year before.
2.Rwanda
Rwanda moved up 15 places — from 56 to 41. It takes just four days to start a business in Rwanda.
3.Morocco
Morocco made starting a business easier by combining the stamp duty payment with the application for business incorporation. In addition the North African country made paying taxes easier by improving the online system for filing and paying taxes.
It takes nine days to start a business in Morocco.
4.Kenya
Kenya moved climbed 12 positions to 80. Kenya made several reforms, including making starting a business easier by merging the procedures required to operate formally.
It takes 25 days to start a business in Kenya — having worsened slightly, from 22 days the year before.
5.Botswana
South Africa’s neighbour slid from 71 to 81, despite making paying taxes and trading across borders easier. It has become harder to start a business in Botswana – with the time taken to register a business having slid from 48 days to 65 days.
6.South Africa
South Africa dropped eight places from 74 in 2017. It takes 45 days to start a business there, down from 43 days the year before.
7.Zambia
Zambia climbed 14 positions, from 98 in 2017. The World Bank notes that the southern African country strengthened access to credit by adopting a new Movable Property Act and by setting up a new collateral registry. It takes nine days to start a business in Zambia.
8.Tunisia
Tunisia slid 11 spots to 88th position. It made paying taxes more costly by introducing a new exceptional corporate income tax contribution. It takes 11 days to start a business there.
9.Seychelles
The Seychelles dropped two places to 95, despite having improved the quality of its land administration system by digitizing its maps and introducing a complaint mechanism, the World Bank notes. It takes a 32 days to start a business in the Seychelles.
10.Lesotho
The southern African country slipped four places from 100 spot. It takes 29 days to start a business there.
Featured image: Port Louis, Mauritius. Ashok Prabhakaran via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-SA 2.0, resized)
