Doing Business Report : Rwanda’s hopes high

*Report to be launched today in 183 countries KIGALI - Today the World Bank officially unveils the 2010 Doing Business Report. 183 countries compared to last year’s 181 are awaiting their ranking in the WB report which assesses legal and regulatory environment, to ascertain whether it is condusive to doing business in the respective countries. The report, basing on 10 indicators, mainly focusing on procedures, time taken, costs of the procedures and the legal/regulatory framework involved while starting up a business. Rwanda was ranked 139th in the 2009 report and 150th in the 2008 Report. However the country is eying a double digit ranking when the 2010 report is launched worldwide today. The report will be launched by the Bretton-Woods institution on a live video teleconference across participating member states. “Rwanda sees the Doing Business Report as a major tool to stimulate investments in the country. By ranking us with other countries, we are able to know where we stand and from there we can identify major areas of focus, where we need to improve and then we actually carry out the necessary reforms.” said Kaliza Karuretwa, the Director General in charge of investment climate at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM). Major reforms implemented by the ministry and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) aimed at easing the process of starting a business in Rwanda, are expected to boost the country’s chances of getting a double-digit ranking. “Double digit can be between 10 and 99. We really don’t know what the double digit will be, but the worst case scenario; we want it to be a double digit.” “It has been in the government plans since this year’s retreat. We went through the last report indicator-by-indicator and looked at the laws that needed to be amended. We particularly prioritized a number of laws such as the company law, the privacy law etc and they have already been passed,” said Clare Akamanzi, the RDB Deputy CEO in charge of Business Operations and Services. She added that the board has streamlined the process of starting a business, where in the last report it took 9 procedures and 16 days to register a company. Today it is just two procedures in one day. “The real reason we undertake the reforms is not just to get the ranking, but rather to impact on businesses that investors find it easy to do business in Rwanda and also have a much bigger private sector. That is the real reason.” Akamanzi adds “We see the Doing Business Report as a very critical component for the investment climate in Rwanda. However not everything we need to do, to boost the investment climate is within this report. The Government of Rwanda chose the report as a starting point to do these reforms.” She also said the report is vital in promoting Rwanda as a major investment destination as it guides investors interested in investing in the country. “We have had a very ambitious cycle this time around and we have put in place quite a number of reforms aimed at getting a double digit score. At the same time I need to mention that this year is quite competitive because there are more countries”. “You can even fall behind if you don’t reform. It is not just reforming but the momentum at which you are reforming.” says Frank Twagira, the Coordinator of the National Doing Business Taskforce at RDB. Ends