Rwanda remains the second easiest place to do business in Africa and is now 38th globally, according to the 2020 World Bank Doing Business report released Thursday.
The World Bank assessed 190 countries using 10 indicators in business regulations.
These include starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
“We continue to make bold and ambitious steps to improve our business environment and further Rwanda’s vision of a private sector-led economic transformation,” said Clare Akamanzi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
Responding to the World Bank’s report, the Rwandan senior official noted with great disappointment the abrupt change in methodology which has affected Rwanda’s global rankings negatively.
“We will continue to engage the World Bank on this issue,” she said.
Rwanda ranked second in Africa after Mauritius and maintained first position in the East African Community. Rwanda is also the only low-income country in the Top 50.
The 2020 report also saw Rwanda’s global ranking drop 9-positions to 38th from 29th last year, mainly caused by the World Bank’s sudden change in methodology.
The new methodology introduced the assessment of “an active stock exchange” which was added into the protecting minority investor’s indicator in January this year.
According to the World Bank, for an economy to be seen as having an active stock market, it has to show at least 10 companies listed and trading equities.
The Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) was officially launched in 2011 and has had eight company listings since.
This abrupt change led to a 100-point drop in the indicator scores on ‘protecting minority investors’ compared to last year’s report where Rwanda ranked 14th globally.
CU/as/APA