By Our Staff Writer
Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries are ahead of Liberia in the ease of doing business, according to the latest ranking in the Doing Business 2020 Report released today (October 24, 2019) by the World Bank.
The report studied some 190 countries around the world and says:
“Doing Business recognizes the important work countries have done to improve their regulatory environments. Among the 10 economies that advanced the most, efforts were focused on the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and trading across borders. In general, economies that score the highest share several features, including the widespread use of electronic systems and online platforms to comply with regulatory requirements.”
Liberia, a mineral-rich West African county which is being dogged by serious economic crisis many blame largely on widespread corruption and bad governance, is ranked 175 in the latest Doing Business Report. The Report also ranks African countries like Guinea Bissau and Sudan above Liberia in terms of ease of doing business.
This country now trails Afghanistan which is in the 173 place and Iraq which stands at the 172 place in the report says “the least reformed area was resolving insolvency. Putting in place reorganization procedures reduces the failure rates of small and medium-size enterprises and prevents the liquidation of insolvent but viable businesses. “
The World Bank Report says that “Doing Business isn’t meant to be an investment guide, but rather a measurement of ease of doing business. Potential investors consider many other factors, such as the overall quality of an economy’s business environment and its national competitiveness, macroeconomic stability, development of the financial system, market size, rule of law, and the quality of the labor force.”
However, the Report points out that “ease of doing business is an important springboard to structural reforms that encourage broad-based growth. The World Bank Group stands ready to help countries move forward.”
Since coming to power on January 22, 2018, the CDC government has said it’s making strides to improve the county’s business climate and it has spoken of measures to reduce the bureaucratic red tape by creating a “one-stop shop”.
See the full report: https://www.doingbusiness.org/