Mozambique improves three places in WB’s Doing Business report

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Mozambique improves three places in WB’s Doing Business report

12:26 CAT | 01 Nov 2018

Picture: WB

This year, Mozambique ranks 135th in the Doing Business Index, against position 138 of the previous edition of this annual World Bank report.

Reforms in the areas of electricity, cross-border trade and the payment of taxes have contributed to the improvement of the business environment in Mozambique, with a small improvement of around 1.53% in the metric comparing the various economies as to the best practices at global level.

In the area of electricity generation, Mozambique was again undergoing reforms for the second consecutive year, resulting in a 50-place increase in Doing Business ranking in this indicator, with the country moving from 150th to 100th.

The introduction of a system of monitoring and management of power cuts by Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) is also noted as a reform in the sector. To this end, EDM began to collect statistical data through two specific indices, namely the Average System Interruption Duration (SAIDI) and the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI).

SAIDI measures the average duration of outages for each of the clients served, while SAIFI measures the average number of outages a customer suffers in a year. In addition, Mozambique has also reduced the time needed to establish an electrical connection by simplifying procedures and introducing an automated management system and deadline control, according to the Doing Business report.

In the area of cross-border trade, Mozambique has made export and import easier by simplifying documentary requirements and by improving infrastructure at the Ressano Garcia border in Maputo province.

Finally, Mozambique also facilitated the payment of taxes, reducing to four months the mandatory waiting time before which taxpayers could request a refund of the Value Added Tax (VAT). Prior to the reform this period of time was twelve months.

On the other hand, the country registered a negative evolution in the Starting a Business indicator, which slightly affected the improvements introduced by the reforms in the above mentioned sectors of electricity, cross-border trade and payment of taxes. In the Starting a Business indicator, the report notes an increase in the cost of publishing the statutes of a company in the Bulletin of the Republic (government gazette] through the National Press.

At the regional level, the economies of sub-Saharan Africa have again adopted a record number of reforms to improve the business environment for the third consecutive year, and maintain an accelerated pace of reform.

According to the Doing Business 2019 report, a total of 40 countries in the region adopted 107 reforms, and five countries, namely Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda and Djibouti stood out by being ranked among the list of the 10 economies in the world that reformed their business environment most in the last year.

“This year half of the list of the top ten economies that have most reformed their business environment is made up of African countries. It is once again the region that has made the most renovations in the world. It is important to note these facts, as it is important to take into account that Mozambique is not assessed in isolation and several neighbouring countries have shown a major step forward,” said Mark Lundell, World Bank director for Mozambique.

Lundell added that, “given the complexity and cross-cutting nature of many reforms, as well as the common resistance to change, it is important to have political leadership at the highest level, an appropriate intergovernmental coordination structure, a strong focus on the training of civil servants, and effective communication with the private sector to ensure sustainability and the proper implementation of business regulations.”

Mark Lundell also said that the World Bank Group was committed to supporting the Mozambican government in improving the business environment in a number of areas, highlighting, in particular, access to credit, insolvency, access to electricity and economic activities.

The Doing Business Index ranges from 0 to 100, with zero representing the lowest performance in terms of the ease of doing business, and 100 the best.

You may read the full World Bank Mozambique Economy Profile at the ‘Doing Business 2019 – Training for Reform’ report HERE
You may read the full World Bank ‘Doing Business 2019- Training for Reform’ report HERE

Source: O País