Accra, Ghana,
November 4, 2010 Ghana
has established Africas newest centralized Collateral Registry
and by improving credit information and legal rights through
granting an operating license to a private credit bureau, the
West African country led the world in making it easier for
businesses to obtain credit.
This is a finding
of Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for
Entrepreneurs, the eighth in a series of the flagship annual
reports published by IFC and the World Bank benchmarking the
regulations that enhance business activity and those that
constrain it. The report presents qualitative indicators on
business regulation and the protection of property rights for
183 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The data are
current as of June 2010.
In the past year 27
economies in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented 49 regulatory
reforms to improve their business environment. Three countries
Rwanda, Cape Verde and Zambia rank among the top 10 worldwide on
improvement in the ease of doing business based on the number
and impact of changes to business regulations between June 2009
and May 2010.
In the sub
region, Ghana remains
overall the easiest place to do business and ranks tops in 2
other indicators Registering Property and Paying Taxes. Sierra
Leone is the easiest place in Start a Business and provides the
best Protection for Investors; Burkina Faso provides simplified
regulations for getting a Construction Permit, Cape Verde tops
in Trading Across Borders and Enforcing Contracts while
neighbouring Cote dIvoire makes it easiest in legally Closing a
Business.
I am pleased that
Ghana implemented reforms in Getting Credit, one of the 9
indicators of the report and has maintained its overall ranking
as the easiest place to do business in West Africa. IFC working
with SECO has provided advisory support in improving Secured
Transactions in Ghana. However, there are clearly opportunities
especially in deepening the products and scope of the financial
markets to ensure that the legal and regulatory framework
established by the Borrowers and Lenders Act; the credit
reference bureau and the Collateral Registry actually translates
into affordable long term credit for firms, especially the large
SME market said Mary Jean Moyo, IFC Country Manager for
Ghana. Interest rates in Ghana remain high and there are other
areas such as infrastructure and the provision of reliable and
affordable energy which while not measured by the Doing
Business report has a direct impact on the overall
investment climate and thus the ability of Ghana to develop a
true competitive edge in the region and globally.
This year, Doing
Business 2011 introduces a new indicator Getting
Electricity. This and the Employing Workers indicators are not
included in the ranking on the on the overall ease of doing
business ranking. This report also features cumulative 5 year
trends of the focus and pace of legal and regulatory reform in
the economies surveyed.
Since 2005, about
85% of the worlds economies have made it easier for local
entrepreneurs to operate, through 1,511 improvements to business
regulation. Among the 30 most-improved economies during those
five years, a third are in Sub-Saharan Africa Burkina Faso,
Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Senegal and Sierra Leone.
About the Doing
Business report series
Doing Business analyzes regulations
that apply to an economys businesses during their life cycle,
including start-up and operations, trading across borders,
paying taxes, and closing a business. Doing Business does not
measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to
firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security,
macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the
strength of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated
policy debates in more than 80 economies and enabled a growing
body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to
economic outcomes across economies. For more information about
the Doing Business report series, please visit: www.doingbusiness.org
Ease
of Doing Business 2011 in Ghana data double click on link
below
http://bit.ly/aWXsdK
Doing Buinsess 2011 Africa Regional Press Release
http://bit.ly/b43NiT
Doing Business 2011 Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zuRH1TiAT0Doing
Business 2011 Africa Regional Fact Sheet
http://bit.ly/adgjs1
Doing Business 2011 ECOWAS profile
http://bit.ly/aYeCnF
For Doing
Business 2011 Full Report
http://bit.ly/aAC1Va
About the World Bank
Group
The World Bank Group
is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for
developing countries. It comprises five closely associated
institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association
(IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each
institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight
poverty and improve living standards for people in the
developing world. For more information, please visitwww.worldbank.org, www.miga.org,
and www.ifc.org.
Contacts for region-specific
queries on Doing Business 2011:
Sub-Saharan Africa - Anglophone