Zambia has fallen 10 places on the World Bank ‘Doing Business Index’ from the time the Patriotic Front Government came into power.
The report basically looks at how easy or difficult it is to do business by companies and individuals in a country.
In the last index published in 2011 by the World Bank, Zambia was ranked number 84 from 185 countries – all recognised countries in the world. See the 2011 report here
But as at the end of June 2012, Zambia has slipped 10 spaces and is now put at number 94 see the latest ranking here
The best country to do business in the world according to the 2013 report is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand and USA in that order.
The worst place is Central Africa Republic and Chad.
The Doing Business Index is co-published by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. It is now in the 10th edition and the latest edition is entitled ‘doing business 2013’
Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as they apply to local fi rms. It provides quantitative measures of regulations for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also looks at regulations on employing workers.
According to the World Bank, the foundation of Doing Business is the notion that economic activity, particularly private sector development, benefits from clear and coherent rules: Rules that set out and clarify property rights and facilitate the resolution of disputes. And rules that enhance the predictability of economic interactions and provide contractual partners with essential protections against arbitrariness and abuse.
Where such rules are reasonably efficient in design, are transparent and accessible to those for whom they are intended and can be implemented at a reasonable cost, they are much more effective in shaping the incentives of economic agents in ways that promote growth and development.