Sierra Leone now ranks 160 out of 178 for fewer constraints in doing business in the country.
This was revealed in a World Bank and International Finance Corporation report titled Ease of Doing Business, which has been published regularly over the past five years.
In Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya ranks among the top ten reformers in the world for making significant changes to make it easier to do business in those countries.
The world’s top reformer “Egypt cut the minimum capital required to start a business, from 50,000 Egyptian pounds to just 1,000 and halved the time and cost of start-up. It reduced fees for registering property from 3 percent of the property value to a low, fixed amount. It eased the bureaucracy that builders face in getting construction permits. It launched new one-stop shops for traders at Egyptian ports, cutting the time to import by seven days and the time to export by five. And it established a new private credit bureau that will soon be making it easier for borrowers to get credit.” According to Al Bawaba
In Sierra Leone to start a business according to the report there are 9 procedures which take up to 26 days.
In dealing with “costs to build a warehouse, including obtaining necessary licenses and permits, completing required notifications and inspections, and obtaining utility connections,” it takes 47 procedures which takes 235 days to accomplish.
In securing rights to property for business there are 8 procedures and 235 days to accomplish.
In “the number of payments an entrepreneur must make; the number of hours spent preparing, filing, and paying; and the percentage of their profits they must pay in taxes.”, there are 22 payments to be made and it takes 399 hours to accomplish.
In “the ease or difficulty of enforcing commercial contracts … determined by following the evolution of a payment dispute and tracking the time, cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment a plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment,” there are 40 procedures involved and it takes 515 days to accomplish.
Lastly it takes two and a half years to close a business.
In 2006 when there were only 175 countries ranked Sierra Leone was 163 and then for 2007 it was ranked 168. Now for 2008 with an additional 3 countries Sierra Leone has dropped to 160 out of 178.