1. INVESTMENT CLIMATE AFRICA
Reform trends on the ease of Doing
Business in Sub-Saharan Africa
Cemile Hacibeyoglu
Trade and Competitiveness Practice
The World Bank Group
Maputo, June 30, 2014
1

2. Doing Business indicators:
 Focus on regulations relevant to the life cycle
of a small to medium-sized domestic business.
 Are built on standardized case scenarios.
 Are measured for the most populous city in
each country.
 Are focused on the formal sector.
DOES NOT measure all aspects of the business environment such as
macroeconomic stability, corruption, level of labor skills, proximity to
markets, or of regulation specific to foreign investment or financial
markets.
2
What does Doing Business measure?
2

3. 3
Doing Business measures 11 areas of business regulation (10
included in the DB2014 ranking, covering 189 economies)
3

4. 4
Mauritius is among top 30 economies on the ease of
doing business in 2012/13

5. The classification of sub-Saharan African economies on the
overall ease of Doing Business in 2012/13
Rankings (1 – 189)
5

6. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
No. of reforming
countries
28 29 27 36 28 31
No. of reforms 58 67 49 75 44 66
Countries in top 10 3 2 3 4 1 4
Senegal,
Burkina Faso,
Botswana
Liberia, Rwanda
Rwanda, Cape
Verde, Zambia
Sao Tome
Principe, Cape
Verde, Sierra
Leone, Burundi
Burundi
Rwanda,
Djibouti, Cote
d’Ivoire, Burundi
Top SSA country
rank
24 20 20 23 19 20
Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius Mauritius
Sub-Saharan Africa’s progress over the years for Sub-
Saharan Africa in Doing Business
 Every year about 30 countries in SSA have undertaken at least one Doing Business reform,
with the region usually accounting for 3 of the world’s top 10 reformers.
6
Booking Doing Business reforms
(Annual reform and country count for SSA)
Rwanda top global
reformer
Rwanda top global
reformer ever; South
Sudan included
Record no. of SSA
countries
Sources: Internal WB-IFC documents, www.doingbusiness.org. Note: SSA
total reform count for 2012 pending confirmation.

7. Pace of reforms remains strong in 2012/13: share of
economies with at least one reform making it easier to do
business
 Worldwide, 114 economies implemented 238 reforms in 2012/2013, 18% rise with respect
to 2011/2012.
 66% of Sub-Saharan economies reformed in 1 or more areas of business regulation in
2012/13
66%
40%
75%
73%
Latin America
and the
Caribbean
OECD high Income
Europe and
Central Asia
Middle East and
North Africa
South Asia
East Asia and
Pacific
Sub-Saharan
Africa
7

8. With a total of 66 reforms, 28 economies in Sub-Saharan
Africa improved business regulations this year
8

9. Reforms reducing regulatory complexity and cost
continued to be more common in 2012/13
9

10. 10
The time to open a business has fallen from 55 days to 30 days
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region that has shown the most
improvement in reducing the time to start a business
10

11. Indicator variability across areas of business regulation in some of
the best performing Sub-Saharan African economies
11

12. Indicator World’s top ranked Sub-Saharan’s top ranked
Starting a business New Zealand
Rwanda (9)
Mauritius (19)
Dealing with construction permits Hong Kong SAR (China)
South Africa (26)
Namibia (31)
Getting electricity Iceland
Mauritius (48)
Rwanda (53)
Registering property Georgia
Rwanda (8)
Sudan (41), Botswana (41)
Getting credit Malaysia / United Kingdom
Kenya (13), Nigeria (13),
Rwanda (13), Zambia (13)
Ghana (28), South Africa (28)
Protecting investors New Zealand
South Africa(10)
Mauritius (12)
Paying taxes United Arab Emirates
Mauritius (13)
Seychelles (19)
Trading across borders Singapore
Mauritius (12)
Seychelles (29)
Enforcing contracts Luxembourg
Cape Verde (35)
Rwanda (40)
Resolving insolvency Japan
Botswana (34)
Mauritius (61)
Several Sub-Saharan economies rank highly in numerous
areas of business regulations
12

13. Four African economies are among the 10 economies that
improved the most in at least three areas assessed by Doing
Business in 2012/13
13
Ease of
Doing
Business
rank
Starting
a
Busines
s
Dealing
with
constructi
on permits
Getting
electricity
Registering
property
Getting
credit
Protecting
investors
Paying
taxes
Trading
across
borders
Enforcing
contracts
Resolving
insolvency
1 Ukraine 112 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
2 Rwanda 32 √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
3
Russian
Federation
92 √ √ √ √ √
4 Philippines 108 √ √ √
5 Kosovo 86 √ √ √
6 Djibouti 160 √ √ √
7
Côte d’
Ivoire
167 √ √ √ √
8 Burundi 140 √ √ √ √ √ √
9
Macedonia,
FYR
25 √ √ √ √ √ √
10 Guatemala 79 √ √ √

14. 14
The top 20 economies improving the most over the past 5
years - 9 of them in Sub-Saharan Africa
Distance to frontier (points of percentage)
Economy Region 2009 2013
Improvement (percentage
points)
1 Ukraine ECA 43.3 58.4 15.2
2 Burundi SSA 35.3 48.9 13.6
3 Belarus ECA 53.5 65.6 12.1
4 Sierra Leone SSA 40.1 52.2 12.1
5 Guinea-Bissau SSA 34.3 45.8 11.4
6 Rwanda SSA 60.8 71.1 10.3
7 Kosovo ECA 55.3 65.0 9.8
8 Russian Federation ECA 52.9 61.9 9.1
9 Macedonia, FYR ECA 65.1 74.1 9.0
10 Poland OECD 63.1 72.0 8.9
11 Armenia ECA 60.4 68.2 7.8
12 Georgia ECA 73.6 81.1 7.5
13 Togo SSA 42.3 49.7 7.3
14 Solomon Islands EAP 54.2 61.5 7.3
15 Benin SSA 39.0 46.2 7.2
16 Liberia SSA 44.5 51.6 7.1
17 Moldova ECA 57.5 64.5 7.0
18 Malaysia EAP 74.9 81.9 7.0
19 Côte d'Ivoire SSA 43.1 50.1 7.0
20 Guinea SSA 36.7 43.7 6.9

15. The 50 economies narrowing the distance to frontier
the most since 2005 – 18 of them in Sub-Saharan Africa
Note: Rankings are based on the difference for each economy between its distance to frontier in 2005 and that in 2013. The data refer to the 174 economies included in Doing Business 2006 (2005). Fifteen
economies were added in subsequent years. The distance to frontier measure shows how far on average an economy is at a point in time from the best performance achieved by any economy on each
Doing Business indicator since 2003 or the first year in which data for the indicator were collected. The measure is normalized to range between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the frontier. EAP = East
Asia and the Pacific; ECA = Europe and Central Asia; LAC = Latin America and the Caribbean; MENA = Middle East and North Africa; OECD = OECD high income; SAS = South Asia; SSA = Sub-Saharan
Africa.
a. Reforms making it easier to do business as recorded by Doing Business since 2005. 15

16. Strategy for successful reform
• Leadership at the highest political level
• Long-term vision and clear targets
• Appropriate structure (steering committee,
technical taskforce)
• Broad but realistic program of
improvement of the business environment
• Coherent reform efforts, year after year:
“start with quick wins and build on
demonstrable effects”
• Clear definition of responsibilities among
implementing agencies
• Follow-up, communication strategy and
training
Key aspects of success in the reform
process
16

17. IFC Investment Climate in Africa
 IC Africa has grown its project portfolio
by 45% a year between 2006 and 2013.
 The country and product focus has been
varied:
 75% of total expenditure is spread across
12 countries
 The product portfolio is widely spread, with
business regulation and infrastructure
/social sectors accounting for the largest
share.
Sources: Advisory services operations portal data. Notes: Kenya data does not include new project
starting in 2013; country and product data includes projections to 2016.
Rapid growth (IC Africa expenditure, 2006-13; US$)
Country focus
(IC Africa expenditure, 2006-16; US$)
Product focus
(IC Africa expenditure, 2006-16; US$)
17
CAGR 45%

18. IFC Investment Climate in Africa
Sources: Advisory services operations portal data. Notes: Kenya data does not include new project
launched in 2013. IDA countries defined as having GNI per capita of less than $1,195 in 2013.
Sudan
Algeria
Niger
Angola
Zambia
Botswana
Madagascar
Mauritius
Seychelles
South Africa
Namibia
Morocco
Mauritania
Lybia Egypt
Chad
Mali
Nigeia
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Somalia
Democratic
Republic
of the Congo
Central
African Rep.
Tanzania
Kenya
Mozambique
Rep. of the Congo
Uganda
Liberia
Ivory
Coast
Ghana Camer-
oon
Gabon
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea
Gambia
Sierra Leone
Tunisia
Guinea-Bissau
Togo
Benin
Lesotho
Swaziland
Zimbabwe
Malawi
Djibouti
South
Sudan
Investment climate program
expenditure
SSA quintile and approx range
1st
, $5-10m
5th
, <$250K
4th
, $250k-1m
3rd
, $1-2.5m
2nd
, $2.5-5m
 In FY 13 IC Africa supported
reform efforts in 36 countries:
 18 Fragile and Conflict-
Affected Situations (FCS)
 31 International Development
Association (IDA)
 3 non-IDA.
 In addition there are 5
regional programs:
 Health in Africa
 East African Community
 OHADA (Organization for the
Harmonization of Business
Law in Africa)
 Indicator Based Reforms
 IC Power
 In FY 13 there were 61
projects at various stages of
implementation.
Burkina
Faso
Rwanda
Burundi
Comoros
Senegal
Cape Verde
Sao Tomé and Principe
Continental spend
(Total project expenditure by country, 2006-16)
Collaboration with WB
18

19. IC in Africa
IC reform and competitiveness
 A vibrant private sector drives economic growth and employment.
Supporting this growth requires price liberalization and
macroeconomic stabilization programs, against which
considerable progress has been made over the past two decades.
 Beyond this, the quality of laws, regulations and institutions that
effect businesses are key, particularly as economies strive to
move from factor to efficiency-driven growth.
 This is the major focus of the World Bank Group’s Investment
Climate (WBG-IC) reform efforts, many of which have focused on
reforms as captured by the Doing Business index.
Factor-driven economies
 Pillar 1. Institutions
 Pillar 2. Infrastructure
 Pillar 3. Macroeconomic
environment
 Pillar 4. Health and primary
education
Efficiency-driven economies
 Pillar 5. Higher education and
training
 Pillar 6. Goods market
efficiency
 Pillar 7. Labor market efficiency
 Pillar 8. Financial market
development
 Pillar 9. Technological
readiness
 Pillar 10. Market size
Innovation-driven economies
 Pillar 11. Business
sophistication
 Pillar 12. Innovation
Pillars of competitiveness
(GCR focus areas)
DB as a litmus test of deeper competitiveness performance
(Correlation between DB and GCI rankings, 0.82)
DB ranking
GCIranking
Sources: World Bank, “Doing Business 2012,” 2012; WEF/WBG/AfDB, “Africa Competitiveness
Report 2013,” 2013. Note: Global Competitiveness Report/Index 19

20. Thank you