Improvements in ease of starting a business, registering property, trading across borders and enforcing contracts saw Rwanda make significant improvement in the latest World Bank Doing Business Report.

The 14th issue of the report, released in October, ranked Rwanda second on the continent after Mauritius and first in the East African Community region.

Globally, Rwanda improved six places ranking 56th out of 190 countries.

The ranking also indicate that Rwanda reduced the gap with Mauritius from 30 places last year to only seven places.

The annual report focuses on ten main areas that affect business namely, the ease of starting a business, obtaining construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

Dr Rita Ramalho, the manager of the World Bank Doing Business Report, said Rwanda registered improvements in starting a business by reducing the number of procedures by two as well as reducing the number of days by two.

With the value added tax registration being done at the Rwanda Development Board, she noted that Rwanda was able to cut down the number of procedures and days in the process.

"In registering property,we had a reduction in the number of days and an increase in the efficiency and quality. There were a few points in the quality. The time was reduced by 20 days because of the one-day registration that Rwanda Natural Resource Authority introduced and an increase in the quality due to proving more information on statistics on property transfers and establishing service standards and transparency,” she told journalists at a news conference in Kigali yesterday.

Rwanda also registered progress by simplifying trading across borders consequently reducing the time taken to import. The development has been viewed by experts as significant considering that Rwanda is landlocked and aims at increasing exports to regional countries and beyond.

"The border compliance aspect had to do with the pre-shipment inspection which is no-longer mandatory. This reduced the time and cost significantly compared to other countries,” Dr Romalho said.

The World Bank official also observed that enforcing contracts had been improved largely due to the Integrated Electronic Case Management System that had impacted on the quality of Judicial Administration index and provided more information to the convenience of judges and lawyers.

The report also indicated areas, where the country ought to make improvements and adjustments for the interest of the business community to impact on the environment.

The lows

Among the areas where Rwanda fell back included dealing with construction permits as well as payment of taxes.

The Minister for Trade, Industry and EAC affairs, Francois Kanimba, said all government stakeholders involved in aspects that saw a decline in performance would be convening today to look into the causes and mull ways to progress.

The meeting will seek to understand the reasons for the decline and then lay strategies for improvement, Kanimba said.

The Mayor of the City of Kigali, Monique Mukaruliza, said the additional requirements that had caused Rwanda to drop from 37th to 159th position globally in dealing with construction permits had been designated to ensure quality of buildings across the city.

She, however, noted that, going forward, there would be efforts to ensure that as the authorities worked to improve quality, there was no hindrance to doing business and did not add unnecessary hold backs.

In regards to the indicator on paying taxes in which the country had slid down 11 steps, a new law requiring businesses to make monthly declarations as opposed to quarterly was found to be the biggest reason for the decline.

Rwanda Revenue Authority commissioner-general Richard Tusabe said they have plans to address the concerns and review the possibilities to having quarterly declarations as opposed to monthly.

Rwanda Development Board chief executive Francis Gatare said although the flow of foreign direct investment has in recent years increased with the improvement of Rwanda’s performance, the reforms were not discriminatory and also looked into the interests of the small and medium enterprises who are considered the bedrock of the economy.

In the last 14 years since the inception of the ranking, Rwanda has implemented a total of 47 reforms making it the most improved country in Africa and second globally after Georgia.

World Bank country manager Yasser El Gammal said the progress, which comes against the backdrop of global economic slowdown and a dull forecast in the economic growth of the continent, reflects efforts to strengthen the role of the private sector in economic development which in turns, leads to resilience.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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