Here are 20 of Africa’s best countries to do business

Elwin Mandowa

3 years ago

The World Bank Group has a major flagship publication which it publishes every year called the Doing Business report.

The 2020 publication is the 17^th in a series of annual studies measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.

Doing Business, according to World Bank “presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.

The Doing Business also “covers 12 areas of business regulation. Ten of these areas—starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency—are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking.”

Doing Business according to the World Bank “also measures regulation on employing workers and contracting with the government, which are not included in the ease of doing business score and ranking.”

“By documenting changes in regulation in 12 areas of business activity in 190 economies, Doing Business analyzes regulation that encourages efficiency and supports freedom to do business,” the bank said.

It said “the data collected by Doing Business address three questions about government. First, when do governments change regulation with a view to developing their private sector? Second, what are the characteristics of reformist governments?

Third, what are the effects of regulatory change on different aspects of economic or investment activity? Answering these questions adds to our knowledge of development.”

The 2020 report said “the economies with the most notable improvement in Doing Business 2020 are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tijakistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, China, India and Nigeria.”

In 2018/19, these countries implemented one-fifth of all the reforms recorded worldwide.

“Economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean continue to lag in terms of reforms.

Only two Sub-Saharan African economies rank in the top 50 on the ease of doing business; no Latin American economies rank in this group,” the report said.

Here are the top twenty countries to do business in Africa.