Dar is worst place among EAC states to do business – WB report

TANZANIA is the worst place among the EAC countries to do business, according to the latest World Bank’s Doing Business Report released this week.According to the report, Tanzania ranks in the 19th position in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and 145th globally.

Rwanda has been the besty performer in EAC and has overtaken South Africa to become the second best place to do business in Africa, according to the report.

The annual World Bank report, which assesses country-by-country performance in ease of doing business, indicates that, overall, Rwanda moved 22 places, to 32nd out of 189 countries globally.

Mauritius (20th globally) retains its number one spot in Sub-Saharan Africa and on the continent in general.

Rwanda was also named the most improved country worldwide since 2005, Ukraine, the country that has improved most over the last one year, while Singapore, for the eighth consecutive year, remained overall best performer globally, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United States and Denmark in that order.

This year’s annual report, released under the banner, ‘Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises’ said Rwanda had substantially improved in property registration and processing of construction permits.

Out of the 10 criteria, Rwanda topped the Sub-Saharan region in three, namely; starting business, registering property and getting credit, and second in getting electricity and enforcing contracts.

In Sub-Saharan region, South Africa comes third (41st globally), Botswana fourth (56th worldwide), Ghana fifth (67) and Seychelles sixth (80).

Rwanda is the only member of the East African Community (EAC) in top ten.

The second top performer among the EAC partner states is Kenya, which ranked 12th in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and 129th globally, followed by Uganda, in 13th position at the regional level and 132nd worldwide.

Burundi ranked 16th and 140th, respectively. Tunisia is the star of North Africa, ranking 51 globally, 19 places behind Rwanda. Democratic Republic of Congo is among the seven worst performers (all from Africa), ranking 183rd globally and 42nd in the Sub-Saharan region.