Good News and Bad News for Doing Business in Africa

Source: The World Bank has just released its Doing Business 2019.

The World Bank has just released its Doing Business 2019. It evaluates 190 countries/economies globally, including 54 in Africa. The evaluation looks at starting a business, labor market regulation, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, trading across borders, paying taxes, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.

There is good news and bad news for Africa. Out of the ten most improved countries since 2017, five are in Africa. Djibouti is second most improved, Togo sixth, Kenya seventh, Cote d’Ivoire eighth, and Rwanda tenth. The bad news is that only eight African countries rank above the global midpoint: Mauritius (20), Rwanda (29), Morocco (60), Kenya (61), Tunisia (80), South Africa (82), Botswana (86), and Zambia (87). Forty-six African countries rank below the global mid-point and thirteen of the bottom twenty are in Africa.