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World Bank ranks Zambia 100th on business regulations index

World Bank ranks Zambia 100th on business regulations index
By Joan Chirwa
Friday September 12, 2008 [04:00]

WORLD Bank's Doing Business 2009 has ranked Zambia 100th on its index based on its business regulations implemented by the government. Doing Business, a joint publication of the World Bank and its financing arm - the International Finance Corporation (IFC), ranks economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that record the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business.

This year's report ranked 181 economies worldwide and reported on reforms in 113 of those economies, of which Zambia is placed in the 100th position. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business from 1 to 181, with the first place being the highest. The rankings are from the Doing Business 2009 report, covering the period June 2007 to June 2008.

These rankings however do not reflect areas such as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, or crime rates.

"Economies need rules that are efficient, easy to use, and accessible to all who use them. Otherwise, businesses are trapped in the unregulated, informal economy, where they have less access to finance and hire fewer workers and where workers lack the protection of labour law," said Michael Klein, World Bank/IFC's vice-president for Financial and Private Sector Development. "Doing Business encourages good rules, and good rules are a better basis for healthy business than who you know."

According to the report, Zambia simplified business registration and reorganised the one-stop shop through process reengineering and computerisation. It also improved the operation of the Zambia Revenue Authority by creating a customer service centre.

"Similar improvements at the Land Registry office cut the time to register propert by almost half. Amendments were made to the Income Tax Act and Value Added Tax Act to update, strengthen, and remove ambiguities in these laws and enhance the effectiveness of tax administration," stated the report.

"In addition, the withholding tax on savings and deposit accounts was reduced from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Areas of reform included starting a business, registering property, and paying taxes."

In SADC region, Botswana was one of the top reformers in the overall Doing Business 2009 report after it moved up 14 slots to thirty-eighth in the rankings. With a record 58 reforms completed in 28 economies, sub-Saharan Africa placed three economies among the top 10 reformers.

Labels: REGULATION, World Bank

posted by MrK @ 6:29 AM