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World Bank praises Rwanda as one of the world’s leading business reformers

The World Bank today recognised Rwanda as the second most improved business reformer over the past five years as the country continued its rapid rise up the Bank’s Doing Business rankings. After leading the 2010 list of reformers amid a global economic recession, the East African country has jumped another 12 places to 58th in the 2011 index.
 
The World Bank Doing Business 2011 report “Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs” used a number of indicators to measure the ease of doing business in countries across the world. The report said that consistent improvement in Rwanda over the past five years showed: “that this was not a one-time effort and that the changes introduced were substantial.”
 
Tony Blair, Patron of the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), which works with the Government of Rwanda to improve effective governance and encourage sustainable economic growth, congratulated Rwanda on its latest achievement:
 
“Rwanda’s remarkable story of development has taken another step forward. The government’s commitment to business reform and their zero-tolerance approach to corruption is making Rwanda a better place to do business each day. Combine that with the country’s continued economic growth and investors have a whole host of reasons to sit up and take note of this emerging economy.
 
“I am proud that our AGI team in Rwanda has been supporting the innovative Rwanda Development Board to help to make these necessary business reforms happen. This latest report highlights the growing trend of business reform across Africa. Rwanda is the latest in what I am sure will be many more success stories to come.”
 
Rwanda had a meteoric rise through the rankings last year, moving from 143 to 70 to top of the World’s Bank 2010 list of the world’s most improved business reformers. Today’s rankings follow the recognition in the recent Transparency International 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index that Rwanda is the most improved country in the world for anti-corruption measures.
 
According to today’s report:
 
* In 2005 starting a business in Rwanda took 9 procedures and cost 223% of income per capita. Today entrepreneurs can register a new business in 3 days, paying official fees that amount to 8.9% of income per capita.
 
* More than 3,000 entrepreneurs took advantage of the efficient process in 2008, up from an average of 700 annually in previous years.
 
* Registering property in 2005 took more than a year (371 days), and the transfer fees amounted to 9.8% of the property value. Today the process takes 2 months and costs 0.4% of the value.
 
* A new company law adopted in 2009 strengthened investor protections by requiring greater corporate disclosure, increasing the liability of directors and improving shareholders’ access to information.
 
Rwanda’s progress is at the forefront of a positive message for investors coming out of the sub-Saharan African region as a whole. The rankings showed positive progress across the region, which implemented half of all trade facilitation reforms seen globally in 2009/10. Overall, 27 of 46 Sub-Saharan African economies implemented Doing Business reforms. Sub-Saharan Africa has put in place some of the most comprehensive investor protection reforms, and continues to lead in reforms to cross border trade.
 
Rwanda and Sierra Leone, where the AGI also run a governance project, were singled out for the creation of regulatory reform committees to lead improvements to the business environment and to coordinate efforts across agencies. Sierra Leone was also praised by the World Bank for its investor protection reforms and administrative tax compliance reforms, and was ranked in the top 25 in the world for overall improvement in ease of doing business over the last five years.

To read the report in full, visit the World Bank's Doing Business website