Uganda backslides in Doing Business ranking

Ranking of EAC Countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report

Kristalina Georgieva, the chief executive officer at the World Bank said whereas there has been growing improvement in starting and operating business in various economies over the years, one aspect of Doing Business has remained unchanged.

This is in line with promoting regulatory reform that strengthens the ability of the private sector to create jobs, lift people out of poverty and create more opportunities for the economy to prosper.

“The notion that the private sector has substantial economic, social and development impact is now universally recognized,” She said.

“Responsible for an estimated 90% of employment in developing economies, the private sector is ideally placed to alleviate poverty by providing the opportunities to secure a good and sustainable standard of living.”

She said promoting a well-functioning private sector is a major undertaking for any government, and that it requires long-term policies of removing administrative barriers and strengthening laws that promote entrepreneurship.

Country rankings elsewhere

Globally, the report ranks New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark in first, second and third spots, respectively, followed by South Korea; Hong Kong, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Georgia and Sweden.

Mauritius, ranked 25 in the world is the highest ranked economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia being among this year’s top 10 improvers.

Rwanda is ranked the best in the Ease of Doing Business in the East African Community, a position it has held in the past six years while Burundi still lags behind in implementing business reforms.

Kenya, the second best performer in the region, was ranked 80 compared with 92 last year while Tanzania saw its ranking drop five positions to 137 during the same period under review.

Since its inception, the World Bank’s Doing Business has recorded business reforms in 186 of the 190 economies it now monitors, with Rwanda having implemented the highest number of business reforms over the past 15 years, with a total of 52 reforms, followed by Georgia, which advanced this year into the top 10 ranked economies (47 reforms) and Kazakhstan and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (41 reforms each).