Johannesburg – Doing business became easier in Africa in 2005–2006, according to a new report by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). For the first time, Africa made the top three among reforming regions, after Eastern Europe and the OECD countries.

Forty-five regulatory reforms in 30 economies in the region reduced the time, cost, and hassle for businesses to comply with legal and administrative requirements. Two-thirds of African countries made at least one reform.

Doing Business 2007: How to Reform finds that two African countries—Ghana and Tanzania—made the list of top 10 reformers on the ease of doing business across 175 economies. Ghana ranked ninth and Tanzania tenth. The top 10 reformers eere, in order, Georgia, Romania, Mexico, China, Peru, France, Croatia, Guatemala, Ghana, and Tanzania. Reformers simplified business regulations, strengthened property rights, eased tax burdens, increased access to credit, and reduced the cost of exporting and importing.

Doing Business 2007 also ranked 175 economies on the ease of doing business—covering 20 more economies than last year’s report. The top-ranked countries in Africa were South Africa (29), Mauritius (32), and Namibia (42). Guinea-Bissau (173) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (175) rank lowest in the region. The DRC also ranks lowest in the world.

The top 30 economies on the ease of doing business were, in order, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong (China), the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Norway, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Thailand, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, Israel, St. Lucia, Chile, South Africa, and Austria.

The rankings track indicators of the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure. They do not track variables such as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.

Ghana, the top reformer in Africa, reformed trade, tax, and property administration. It introduced a single-window clearance process at customs where traders could now file all paperwork—for all agencies—at one place.

Clearance time dropped from seven days to three days for imports and from four days to two days for exports. Ghana also reduced the corporate tax rate and reconstruction levy for businesses, cutting the overall tax burden from 35.6 percent to 32.3 percent of profits. And it decreased the stamp duty on property transfers from 2 percent to 0.5 percent of the property value.

Other notable reforms in the region: