Rwanda still best place for business in EAC – report

The massive gap lying between the best and least business-friendly country in the region is big challenge towards the full integration of the East African Community.This was observed, yesterday, during the launch of “Doing Business Report in East Africa Community 2013” in Kigali, which is a segment of the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2013 launched in October.Ranked 52nd globally out of 185 countries, Rwanda is the easiest country in the region to start a business. Burundi trailed its EAC partners, at 159th globally.Uganda and Kenya were ranked 120 and 121, respectively, while Tanzania came fourth, at position 134 globally.“EAC economies have an average ranking on the ease of doing business of 177 among the 185 countries ranked, but there is great variation among them. This variation in business regulation is among the issues that EAC needs to tackle to achieve the desired level of integration,” Alfred Ombudo K’ombudo, the co-ordinator of the World Bank EAC Common Market Diagnostics, said.His view was echoed by the Minister of EAC Affairs, Monique Mukaruliza, who urged partner states to copy best practices from each other in order to improve the region’s competitiveness and attraction of investors.“This ranking gives us an opportunity to know where we are and how much we need to improve. As we progress towards full integration, we shall be talking more about regional businesses than national businesses. I am, therefore, happy to note that each partner state has undertaken major reforms. I urge all of us to harmonise the pending business laws and regulations,” Mukaruliza said.Economic reformsThe report indicates that the five EAC economies implemented a combined nine regulatory reforms across eight areas from June 2011 to June 2012.It ranks EAC at a lowly 177 among 185 economies on the ease of doing business. It indicates that the region needs to initiate further reforms that would propel it to rival the United Arabs Emirates, ranked 26th.“Drawing on the global Doing Business Report, Doing Business in EAC 2013 provides policymakers with key measurements of business regulations,” said David Bridgman, the World Bank’s Investment Climate Africa manager.“The report’s findings can be used to identify areas to improve the business environment in the EAC along with enabling the expansion of the private sector, the main driver of growth and job-creation,” he added.Burundi is among the global top 10 most-improved countries for the second consecutive year, while Rwanda retained its top position as the best business destination in Eastern and Central Africa.Slight overall declineRwanda also ranked third in sub-Saharan Africa, after Mauritius and South Africa, despite falling eight places from its position in 2012.The country’s performance earned her a special mention from the World Bank, with a report titled, “Rwanda fostering prosperity by promoting entrepreneurship.”The country last year implemented nine new reforms out of 10 indicators, which were not reflected in the latest ranking. It also zeroed on areas where it did not perform well, such as resolving insolvencies and issuance of construction permits.The government has since hired insolvency experts, based at the Rwanda Development Board, to offer free insolvency advice as well as to analyse the backlog of cases.

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Rwanda still best place for business in EAC – report