Doing Business 2009: Sierra Leone Makes Key Improvements in Business Reform

By FSG On September 15, 2008 · In Diverse

Sierra Leone has made key improvements in regulatory reforms that make it easier to do business, according to Doing Business 2009,

the sixth in an annual series of reports published by IFC and the World Bank.

Sierra Leone ’s Doing Business reform efforts started in 2005. For the 2009 report released today, the country has improved its overall ranking climbing four spots to 156 from 160 since the last annual survey that ranks 181 economies on the overall ease of doing business. Overall, Sierra Leone ranks ahead of its neighbors: Liberia (157), Guinea (171), and Cote D’Ivoire (161) in the Mano River Basin. On starting a business, one of the 10 indicators of theDoing Business

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index, Sierra Leone is the top performer in West Africa.

The report identifies Sierra Leone making reforms in four key areas: starting a business; dealing with construction permits; registering property; and trading across borders. Government authorities drastically cut costs and sped up the process of staring a business by making the use of a lawyer optional and abolishing other registration formalities, including requirements to pay taxes up front and obtain permission for registration to start a business. Sierra Leone has also improved the organization of the building approval process and reinstated phased inspections, cutting 24 procedures for obtaining a construction permit. The country sped property registration from 235 days to 86 by lifting a ban it had previously imposed requiring the director of survey to authenticate the cadastral map before each transfer. Finally, Sierra Leone facilitated trade by eliminating the requirement for an export license.

Sierra Leone was labeled one of Africa’s most active reformers of business regulations. The region recorded a record year — with 28 countries completing 58 reforms — and produced three of the world’s top 10 reformers: Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Botswana.

“ Sierra Leone is pleased to be at the top of other West African countries in starting a business,” Trade Minister Almammy Koroma said. “We have drastically reduced from 32 to seven the number of working days required to start a business. In the years to come, we are committed to improving our rankings on other Doing Business indicators, which we hope would eventually lead to an improvement in our regional and global positions in future Doing Business reports.”

“The IFC is pleased with Sierra Leone’s performance. The improved ranking demonstrates that the country is increasingly committed to reform agendas that make it easier to do business,” said Mary Agboli, IFC Operations Officer on the Investment Climate Team for Sierra Leone.

Doing Business ranks economies based on 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business.

The rankings do not reflect such areas as macroeconomic policy, quality of infrastructure, currency volatility, investor perceptions, political stability or crime rates.