eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
The World Bank says Zimbabwe is making good progress towards reforms as the country strives to achieve a double digit figure in the ease of doing business rankings.
The new Government has also committed itself towards reforms as efforts to create a more conducive environment for business, which the World Bank believes is a stepping stone for the process that is anticipated to improve Zimbabwe’s ranking to below 100.
World Bank country coach on ease of doing business Eric Zinyengere, said the progress made so far towards improving the business environment was commendable and a step in the positive direction, although at a slower pace than desired.
“The process has been progressive, we are moving in the right direction, it may not be at the speed we want but it is good,” he said on the sidelines of the World Bank Ease of doing business reforms meeting held in the capital on Monday.
“We can complain about speed but the good thing is we are moving forward with the reforms,” he said.
Zimbabwe is number 155 on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, a significant improvement from 2015 when it was ranked 171 out of 190 economies.
According to the World Bank, economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190.
A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
These rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic.
The doing business indicators focus on regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small to medium sized business, in the formal sector and are measured for the largest business city in each economy.
Thematic groups on property registration, getting electricity, getting credit, contract enforcement and trading across borders have recorded progress in reforms.
For instance, the thematic group on registering properties managed to reduce procedure time to 14 days from 36 days while the number of procedures for registering a property reduced to four from five.
On construction permits, the team worked on the number of procedures to 6 from 10 while the process of getting a permit is now 150 days from 208 days.
Zinyengere said the country’s new administration had also shown commitment towards the reforms with several laws that were pending for a long time passed in the last two years.
“We have always said we need significant support from policy makers, we believe the highest office in the country is concerned about the business environment and reforms, so we are positive there is not going to be any policy inconsistencies.
“There is a certain urgency in making reforms in Zimbabwe with the new Government. Already, we have seen more laws enabled in the shortest time, in the last two years, for instance the Insolvency Act and the Deeds Act, they have been pending for long,” he said.
Senior principal director, Office of the President and Cabinet Solomon Mhlanga, emphasised Government’s commitment towards reforms and improving the business environment.
The current ranking, he said, was “poor” and more needed to be done to improve it to below 100.
In light of this, Government would also include other issues deemed undesirable to business for reforms, in addition to the World Bank’s ease of doing business indicators.
“We are at 155 out of 190 which is very poor. There are other points where business have issues with Government and we are encouraging business associations to come forward with particular areas they want attended to.
“Government is open for discussion with businesses, we should work together in instances they think the laws are too stringent or costs are too high,” he said.
