Three low-income, IDA countries - Georgia, Ghana and Kenya - made this year's list of the top 10 business reformers in the Doing Business 2008 rankings published by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Georgia, the top reformer last year, continues to target better rankings each year. Its efforts are paying off: Georgia is now in the top 25 countries in overall rankings for the ease of doing business. Georgia now has 15 registered businesses per 100 people (the same as Malaysia). It strengthened investor protections, adopted a new insolvency law, sped up approvals for construction permits and simplified procedures for
registering property. It made starting a business easier by eliminating the paid-in capital requirement. In addition, the country’s private credit bureau added payment information from retailers, utilities, and trade creditors to the data it collects and distributes.
Ghana, also a top 10 reformer for the second year running, continues to increase the efficiency of its public services. It cut bottlenecks in property registration, reducing delays from six months to one. Greater efficiency at the company registry and the environment agency cut the time for business start-up to 42 days. Changes in the port authority's operations sped up imports. New civil procedure rules and mandatory arbitration and mediation reduced the time it takes to enforce contracts.
Kenya, Africa's other top 10 reformer, launched an ambitious licensing reform program. So far the program has eliminated 110 business licenses and simplified eight others. The changes have streamlined business start-up and cut both the time and cost of getting building permits. The program will eventually eliminate or simplify at least 900 more of the country's 1,300 licenses. Property registration is also faster now, thanks to the introduction of competition among land valuers. And the country's private credit bureau now collects a wider range of data.
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