Washington – Liberia is ranked 174 amongst 190 countries in the world for doing business, according to the World Bank.
The new report finds that developing countries carried out more than 75 percent of the 283 reforms in the past year, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for over one-quarter of all reforms.
In its global country rankings of business efficiency, ‘Doing Business 2017’ awarded its coveted top spot to New Zealand; Singapore ranks second, followed by Denmark.
According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa economies stepped up the pace of reform activity, with 37 economies undertaking a total of 80 business reforms in the past year, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year.
The overarching goal of ‘Doing Business’, according to Rita Ramalho, Manager of the Doing Business project, is to enable entrepreneurship, for women and men, particularly in low and middle income countries.
“That governments around the world are taking up the challenge of improving the business climate, to enable job creation, is worth celebrating and we look forward to continue recording the successes we have seen this past year in the years to come,” she said.
The report said for the second consecutive year, Kenya was among the world’s top 10 improvers, while seven economies implemented four or more reforms each in the past year.
The report cites research that demonstrates better performance in doing business on average, associated with lower levels of income inequality, thereby reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
However, it indicated that 13 economies in the region stipulate additional hurdles for women entrepreneurs.
The report also points out that Sub-Saharan African economy underperform in the areas of Getting Electricity (with an average rank of 151), trading across borders (137), and dealing with construction permits (133).
It also added that it takes an average of 120 days to obtain a permanent electricity connection to the grid in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to the global average of 93 days.