Mauritius ranks 20th in Overall Ease of Doing Business 2011

Mauritius ranks 20th in global rankings on Overall Ease of Doing Business 2011 and tops Africa's Sub-Saharan economies for the third consecutive year, according to the World Bank group's Doing Business 2011 Report: Making a difference for Entrepreneurs, launched last week.

Mauritius maintains its position among the top twenty economies on the overall ease of doing business followed by South Africa placed at the 34th position out of the 183 economies rated by the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. This is attributed mostly to the continuous reforms upon which the country has embarked thus transforming and improving the business climate into a more globally competitive one. Reforms have also made the investment procedures significantly easier for people to do business, the report points out.

The criteria used to assess reform pertain mainly to employing workers, registering property, getting credit information, trading across borders, closing a business and enforcing contracts. The country belongs to two regional groupings: the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). In SADC, Mauritius is the easiest place for starting a business, paying taxes and trading across borders whilst in COMESA region Mauritius leads in protecting investors, paying taxes and trading across borders.

According to the World Bank report, Sub-Saharan Africa is reforming at a fast pace with 49 regulatory reforms recorded in 27 Sub-Saharan Africa's economies. Many economies in Africa also made it easier for small and medium-size enterprises to import and export. Among the most-improved economies are; Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

For the World Bank Acting Country Director for Mauritius, Mr Constantine Chikosi, Mauritius is a model for the African region and the country has been sharing its expertise in designing and implementing the reforms with other countries in Africa. The country is quickly establishing itself as a centre for south-south learning and in the long run it will be one among the few African countries leading a region-wide approach to doing business reforms, he added.

Doing Business 2011 is the eighth in an annual series of reports issued by the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank and ranking 183 economies on the overall ease of doing business. The Report covers the period June 2009 to May 2010. The ratings are based on ten indicators namely, starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. This year, Doing Business 2011 introduces a new indicator, that is, Getting Electricity.