Uganda has dropped four places in the latest ease of Doing Business rankings compiled by the World Bank.

The report, which was launched in Washington on October 20, shows that like her regional counterparts Kenya and Tanzania who also dropped  on the rankings, Uganda slumped the most from the 119^th position last year to 123^rd in 2011.  Kenya dropped 3 places from 106 to 109 while Tanzania dropped from 125 to 127. Rwanda improved on last year’s excellent performance jumping from 50 to 45 while Burundi had the best improvement on the continent, moving from 177 to 169 among 183 countries surveyed.

The report is expected to energise the private sector in its efforts to compel the government to do something to make the environment more conducive for business so as to make the Ugandan business sector more competitive in both the local and international markets.

On the positive side, the World Bank report credits Uganda for increasing the efficiency of property transfers by establishing performance standards and recruiting more officials at the land office. Also, URA’s effort to simplify registration for a tax identification number and for value added tax by introducing an online system was also a big boost.

However, the fact that the country introduced changes that added time to the process of obtaining a business license thus slowing business start-up, contributed to its drop on the rankings.

The report shows that it takes an entrepreneur 16 procedures and a month (34 days) to start a business in Uganda, compared to just three days in Rwanda. Also, it takes more than 4 months (125 days) to get a construction permit and more than three months to get connected to electricity. Also, it takes 37 days to export from Uganda compared to just 18 in Tanzania. Ironically, it takes a fewer days to import than to import, which seems to be a slap in the face of Uganda’s efforts to export more so as to close the trade deficit.

The report, titled, Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World, finds that in Sub-Saharan Africa, a record 36 out of 46 economies improved business regulations this year.

Rwanda is still ranked as the best performer in the region, having made starting a business easier by reducing the business registration fees. Also, it eased firms’ administrative burden of paying taxes by reducing the frequency of value added tax filings from monthly to quarterly. Rwanda’s credit information system also improved, as its private credit bureau started to collect and distribute information from utility companies and also started to distribute more than 2 years of historical information.

Rwanda made transferring property more expensive, however, by enforcing the checking of the capital gains tax. Global economies continued to implement reforms that enhance local firms’ ability to do business, with transparency and access to information playing a key role in the reforms.

The report assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in the 183 economies and ranks the economies in 10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.

This year’s report data cover regulations measured from June 2010 through May 2011.

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