83407 Regional Profile: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 2 © 2013 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 15 14 13 12 A copublication of The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. Note that The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. 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Cover design: The Word Express Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 3 CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 The business environment .......................................................................................................... 5 Starting a business ..................................................................................................................... 12 Dealing with construction permits........................................................................................... 22 Getting electricity ....................................................................................................................... 30 Registering property .................................................................................................................. 37 Getting credit .............................................................................................................................. 45 Protecting investors ................................................................................................................... 51 Paying taxes ................................................................................................................................ 58 Trading across borders .............................................................................................................. 66 Enforcing contracts .................................................................................................................... 77 Resolving insolvency .................................................................................................................. 84 Data notes ................................................................................................................................... 90 Resources on the Doing Business website .............................................................................. 95 Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 4 INTRODUCTION Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is Development Community (SADC) and European Union for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to (EU). The data in this report are current as of June 1, medium-size business when complying with relevant 2013 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which regulations. It measures and tracks changes in cover the period January–December 2012). regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a The Doing Business methodology has limitations. Other business: starting a business, dealing with construction areas important to business—such as an economy’s permits, getting electricity, registering property, proximity to large markets, the quality of its getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, infrastructure services (other than those related to trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving trading across borders and getting electricity), the insolvency and employing workers. security of property from theft and looting, the In a series of annual reports Doing Business presents transparency of government procurement, quantitative indicators on business regulations and the macroeconomic conditions or the underlying strength protection of property rights that can be compared of institutions—are not directly studied by Doing across 189 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, Business. The indicators refer to a specific type of over time. The data set covers 47 economies in Sub- business, generally a local limited liability company Saharan Africa, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, operating in the largest business city. Because 25 in East Asia and the Pacific, 25 in Eastern Europe standard assumptions are used in the data collection, and Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and North comparisons and benchmarks are valid across Africa and 8 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD high- economies. The data not only highlight the extent of income economies. The indicators are used to analyze obstacles to doing business; they also help identify the economic outcomes and identify what reforms have source of those obstacles, supporting policy makers in worked, where and why. designing regulatory reform. This regional profile presents the Doing Business More information is available in the full report. Doing indicators for economies in Economic Community of Business 2014 presents the indicators, analyzes their West African States (ECOWAS). It also shows the relationship with economic outcomes and regional average, the best performance globally for recommends regulatory reforms. The data, along with each indicator and data for the following comparator information on ordering the Doing Business 2014 regions: East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), Economic report, are available on the Doing Business website at Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Middle http://www.doingbusiness.org. East and North Africa (MENA), Southern African Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 5 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers trying to improve their economy’s The ranking on each topic is the simple average of regulatory environment for business, a good place to the percentile rankings on its component start is to find out how it compares with the indicators (see the data notes for more details). regulatory environment in other economies. Doing The aggregate ranking on the ease of doing Business provides an aggregate ranking on the ease business benchmarks each economy’s of doing business based on indicator sets that performance on the indicators against that of all measure and benchmark regulations applying to other economies in the Doing Business sample domestic small to medium-size businesses through (figure 1.1). While this ranking tells much about their life cycle. Economies are ranked from 1 to 189 the business environment in an economy, it does by the ease of doing business index. For each not tell the whole story. The ranking on the ease of economy the index is calculated as the ranking on the doing business, and the underlying indicators, do simple average of its percentile rankings on each of not measure all aspects of the business the 10 topics included in the index in Doing Business environment that matter to firms and investors or 2014: starting a business, dealing with construction that affect the competitiveness of the economy. permits, getting electricity, registering property, Still, a high ranking does mean that the getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, government has created a regulatory environment trading across borders, enforcing contracts and conducive to operating a business. resolving insolvency. Figure 1.1 Where economies stand in the global ranking on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 6 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers, knowing where their economy stands regional average (figure 1.2). Another perspective is in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business is provided by the regional average rankings on the topics useful. Also useful is to know how it ranks compared with included in the ease of doing business index (figure 1.3). other economies in the region and compared with the Figure 1.2 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of doing business *The economy with the best performance globally is included as a benchmark. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 7 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.3 How Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ranks on Doing Business topics Regional average ranking Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 8 Figure 1.4 How far has Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) come in the areas measured by Doing Business? Note: The distance to frontier measure shows how far on average a region is from the best performance achieved by any region on each Doing Business indicator since 2005, except for the getting electricity indicators, which were introduced in 2009. The measure is normalized to range between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the best performance (the frontier). The overall distance to frontier is the average of the distance to frontier in the first 9 indicator sets shown in the figure and does not include getting electricity. Data on the overall distance to frontier including getting electricity is available at http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/distance-to-frontier. See the data notes for more details on the distance to frontier measure. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 9 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Just as the overall ranking on the ease of doing more significant impact as measured by Doing business tells only part of the story, so do changes in Business. that ranking. Yearly movements in rankings can The absolute values of the indicators tell another part provide some indication of changes in an economy’s of the story (table 1.1). Policy makers can learn much regulatory environment for firms, but they are always by comparing the indicators for their economy with relative. An economy’s ranking might change because those for the lowest- and highest-scoring economies of developments in other economies. An economy that in the region as well as those for the best performers implemented business regulation reforms may fail to globally. These comparisons may reveal unexpected rise in the rankings (or may even drop) if it is passed strengths in an area of business regulation—such as a by others whose business regulation reforms had a regulatory process that can be completed with a small number of procedures in a few days and at a low cost. Table 1.1 Summary of Doing Business indicators for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Lowest regional Best regional Best global Indicator Regional average performance performance performance Starting a Business 168 (Togo) 31 (Liberia) 121 1 (New Zealand) (rank) Procedures (number) 9 (Guinea-Bissau) 3 (Burkina Faso) 6 1 (New Zealand)* Time (days) 28.0 (Nigeria) 5.0 (Liberia) 14.0 1.0 (New Zealand) Cost (% of income per 174.3 (Gambia, The) 13.5 (Cape Verde) 67.0 0.0 (Slovenia) capita) Paid-in Min. Capital (% 527.8 (Niger) 0.0 (5 Economies*) 187.8 0.0 (112 Economies*) of income per capita) Dealing with 1 (Hong Kong SAR, Construction Permits 176 (Sierra Leone) 60 (Burkina Faso) 133 China) (rank) 6 (Hong Kong SAR, Procedures (number) 29 (Guinea) 11 (Mali)* 16 China) Time (days) 364.0 (Côte d'Ivoire) 75.0 (Liberia) 188.9 26.0 (Singapore) Cost (% of income per 3,504.8 (Nigeria) 91.6 (Guinea) 618.9 1.1 (Qatar) capita) Getting Electricity 188 (Guinea-Bissau) 85 (Ghana) 141 1 (Iceland) (rank) Procedures (number) 8 (4 Economies*) 4 (7 Economies*) 6 3 (10 Economies*) Time (days) 465 (Liberia) 55 (Côte d'Ivoire) 160 17 (Germany) Cost (% of income per 16,321.1 (Benin) 888.0 (Cape Verde) 5,262.7 0.0 (Japan) capita) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 10 Lowest regional Best regional Best global Indicator Regional average performance performance performance Registering Property 185 (Nigeria) 49 (Ghana) 132 1 (Georgia) (rank) Procedures (number) 13 (Nigeria) 4 (3 Economies*) 6 1 (4 Economies*) Time (days) 295.0 (Togo) 22.0 (Cape Verde) 75.3 1.0 (New Zealand)* Cost (% of property 20.8 (Nigeria) 1.2 (Ghana) 10.6 0.0 (5 Economies*) value) Getting Credit (rank) 165 (Gambia, The) 13 (Nigeria) 112 1 (Malaysia)* Strength of legal 3 (Cape Verde) 9 (Nigeria) 6 10 (10 Economies*) rights index (0-10) Depth of credit 5 (3 Economies*) 2 6 (31 Economies*) information index (0-6) Public registry 0.1 (Nigeria) 17.3 (Cape Verde) 3.7 100.0 (Portugal)* coverage (% of adults) Private bureau 4.9 (Nigeria) 10.4 (Ghana) 7.7 100.0 (22 Economies*) coverage (% of adults) Protecting Investors 178 (Guinea)* 22 (Sierra Leone) 132 1 (New Zealand) (rank) Extent of disclosure 1 (Cape Verde) 7 (Ghana) 5 10 (10 Economies*) index (0-10) Extent of director 1 (11 Economies*) 8 (Sierra Leone) 2 10 (Cambodia) liability index (0-10) Ease of shareholder 1 (Guinea) 7 (Ghana) 4 10 (3 Economies*) suits index (0-10) Strength of investor 2.7 (Guinea)* 6.7 (Sierra Leone) 4.0 9.7 (New Zealand) protection index (0-10) Paying Taxes (rank) 186 (Guinea) 42 (Liberia) 146 1 (United Arab Emirates) Payments (number per 3 (Hong Kong SAR, 62 (Côte d'Ivoire) 30 (Cape Verde) 45 year) China)* 12 (United Arab Time (hours per year) 956 (Nigeria) 151 (Liberia) 344 Emirates) Trading Across 178 (Niger) 80 (Senegal) 133 1 (Singapore) Borders (rank) Documents to export 10 (Burkina Faso)* 6 (7 Economies*) 7 2 (Ireland)* (number) Time to export (days) 57 (Niger) 12 (Senegal) 26 6 (5 Economies*) Cost to export (US$ per 4,475 (Niger) 875 (Ghana) 1,598 450 (Malaysia) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 11 Lowest regional Best regional Best global Indicator Regional average performance performance performance container) Documents to import 13 (Nigeria) 5 (Senegal) 9 2 (Ireland)* (number) Time to import (days) 62 (Niger) 14 (Senegal) 31 4 (Singapore) Cost to import (US$ 4,500 (Niger) 895 (Gambia, The) 2,111 440 (Singapore) per container) Enforcing Contracts 181 (Benin) 35 (Cape Verde) 123 1 (Luxembourg) (rank) Time (days) 1,715 (Guinea-Bissau) 276 (Guinea) 661 150 (Singapore) Cost (% of claim) 149.5 (Sierra Leone) 19.8 (Cape Verde) 54.0 0.1 (Bhutan) Procedures (number) 49 (Guinea) 32 (Côte d'Ivoire) 39 21 (Singapore)* Resolving Insolvency 189 (Guinea-Bissau)* 95 (Côte d'Ivoire) 136 1 (Japan) (rank) Time (years) 5.0 (Niger) 1.9 (Ghana) 3.1 0.4 (Ireland) Cost (% of estate) 43 (Liberia) 8 (Guinea) 21 1 (Norway) Recovery rate (cents on 0.0 (Guinea-Bissau)* 31.8 (Côte d'Ivoire) 19.0 92.8 (Japan) the dollar) * Two or more economies share the top ranking on this indicator. A number shown in place of an economy’s name indicates the number of economies that share the top ranking on the indicator. For a list of these economies, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 12 STARTING A BUSINESS Formal registration of companies has many WHAT THE STARTING A BUSINESS immediate benefits for the companies and for INDICATORS MEASURE business owners and employees. Legal entities outlive their founders. Resources are pooled as several shareholders join forces to start a company. Procedures to legally start and operate a Formally registered companies have access to company (number) services and institutions from courts to banks as Preregistration (for example, name well as to new markets. And their employees can verification or reservation, notarization) benefit from protections provided by the law. An Registration in the economy’s largest additional benefit comes with limited liability business city companies. These limit the financial liability of company owners to their investments, so personal Postregistration (for example, social security assets of the owners are not put at risk. registration, company seal) Where governments make this process easy, more Time required to complete each procedure entrepreneurs start businesses in the formal sector, (calendar days) creating more good jobs and generating more Does not include time spent gathering revenue for the government. information What do the indicators cover? Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 procedures cannot start on the same day). Doing Business measures the ease of starting a Procedures that can be fully completed business in an economy by recording all online are an exception to this rule. procedures officially required or commonly done in practice by an entrepreneur to start up and Procedure considered completed once final document is received formally operate an industrial or commercial business—as well as the time and cost required to No prior contact with officials complete these procedures. It also records the paid-in minimum capital that companies must Cost required to complete each procedure deposit before registration. The ranking on the (% of income per capita) ease of starting a business is the simple average of Official costs only, no bribes the percentile rankings on the 4 component No professional fees unless services required indicators: procedures, time, cost and paid-in by law minimum capital requirement. Paid-in minimum capital (% of income To make the data comparable across economies, per capita) Doing Business uses several assumptions about the business and the procedures. It assumes that all Funds deposited in a bank or with a notary before registration (or within 3 months) information is readily available to the entrepreneur and that there has been no prior contact with • Conducts general commercial or industrial officials. It also assumes that the entrepreneur will activities. pay no bribes. And it assumes that the business: • Has a start-up capital of 10 times income per • Is a 100% domestically owned limited liability capita and has a turnover of at least 100 times company, located in the largest business city. income per capita. • Has between 10 and 50 employees. • Does not qualify for any special benefits. • Does not own real estate. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 13 STARTING A BUSINESS Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy is it for entrepreneurs in economies in suggest an answer (figure 2.1). The average ranking of Economic Community of West African States the region and comparator regions provide a useful (ECOWAS) to start a business? The global rankings of benchmark. these economies on the ease of starting a business Figure 2.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of starting a business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 14 STARTING A BUSINESS The indicators underlying the rankings may be more cost and the paid-in minimum capital requirement revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show (figure 2.2). Comparing these indicators across the what it takes to start a business in each economy in region and with averages both for the region and for the region: the number of procedures, the time, the comparator regions can provide useful insights. Figure 2.2 What it takes to start a business in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Procedures (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 15 STARTING A BUSINESS Time (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 16 STARTING A BUSINESS Cost (% of income per capita) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 17 STARTING A BUSINESS Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 18 STARTING A BUSINESS What are the changes over time? Economies around the world have taken steps making satisfaction and savings and more registered it easier to start a business—streamlining procedures businesses, financial resources and job opportunities. by setting up a one-stop shop, making procedures What business registration reforms has Doing Business simpler or faster by introducing technology, and recorded in Economic Community of West African reducing or eliminating minimum capital requirements. States (ECOWAS) (table 2.1)? Many have undertaken business registration reforms in stages—and often as part of a larger regulatory reform program. Among the benefits have been greater firm Table 2.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made starting a business easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Through ministerial decree, Burkina Faso simplified DB2008 Burkina Faso notification and documentation requirements, reducing the time to register a company. Côte d'Ivoire eased the process of starting a business by DB2008 Côte d'Ivoire abolishing the requirement of notifiying the labor ministry. The ongoing computerization at the company registry and DB2008 Ghana improved operations at the Environmental Protection Agency reduced business registration time. The business startup process was reformed -- a single DB2008 Mali company identification number reduced the registration time. Niger made starting a business cheaper by eliminating the DB2008 Niger fees paid at the Chamber of Commerce at the time of business start-up. An electronic company name search was introduced, which DB2008 Nigeria made the company registry more efficient. The requirement to register employment vacancies and the DB2009 Ghana seal requirement were abolished reducing the number of procedures. Simplification of the registration processes, time- limit DB2009 Liberia reforms, business licenses reforms resulted in tremendous time and number of procedures’’ reduction The one-stop shop became fully operational merging several DB2009 Senegal start-up procedures into 1 and reducing the start- up time substantially. The use of lawyer was made optional and other registration DB2009 Sierra Leone formalities were abolished including the payment of taxes Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 19 DB year Economy Reform upfront and the exchange control permission for registration cutting the number of procedures, time and cost. Burkina Faso eased the process of business start-up by allowing publication to be done directly on the website of the DB2010 Burkina Faso Maison de l'entreprise (one-stop shop), reducing the registration cost and streamlining the tax registration process. Cape Verde eased the business startup process by DB2010 Cape Verde implementing an company online registration system. Ghana simplified business start- up process by further DB2010 Ghana streamlining the registration procedures with the creation of a customer services desk at the one stop shop. Guinea-Bissau simplified the business start- up process through the electronization of the company name search, the DB2010 Guinea-Bissau introduction of some computers and flash drives, and the reduction of the registration fees. Liberia eased the start up process by removing the need to DB2010 Liberia obtain and environmental impact assessment when forming a general trading company. Mali simplified the business start-up process by creating a new one stop shop making it possible to register a company DB2010 Mali with the registrar and tax agency, apply for online publication and obtain a national identification number (NINA). Niger simplified the process to start a business by eliminating the procedures to register with the Centre Nationale des DB2010 Niger Utilisateurs du Transports (CNUT) and with the Chamber of Commerce. Sierra Leone eased business start up processes with the DB2010 Sierra Leone establishment of a one-stop shop for business registration. Togo eased business start-up by setting up a one-stop shop DB2010 Togo (CFE) eliminating 6 procedures and reducing cost by a third Cape Verde made business start-up easier by eliminating the need for a municipal inspection before a business begins DB2011 Cape Verde operations and computerizing the system for delivering the municipal license. Benin made starting a business easier by replacing the DB2012 Benin requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with one for a sworn declaration at the time of the company’s Burkina Faso made starting a business easier by replacing the requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with DB2012 Burkina Faso one for a sworn declaration at the time of the company’s registration. Côte d’Ivoire made starting a business easier by reorganizing DB2012 Côte d'Ivoire the court clerk’s office where entrepreneurs file their Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 20 DB year Economy Reform company documents. DB2012 Ghana Ghana increased the cost to start a business by 70%. Guinea-Bissau made starting a business easier by establishing a one-stop shop, eliminating the requirement for an DB2012 Guinea-Bissau operating license and simplifying the method for providing criminal records and publishing the registration notice. Liberia made starting a business easier by introducing a one- DB2012 Liberia stop shop. Mali made starting a business easier by adding to the services DB2012 Mali provided by the one-stop shop. Senegal made starting a business easier by replacing the requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with DB2012 Senegal one for a sworn declaration at the time of the company’s registration. Benin made starting a business easier by appointing a DB2013 Benin representative of the commercial registry at the one-stop shop and reducing some fees. Guinea made starting a business easier by setting up a one- stop shop for company incorporation and by replacing the DB2013 Guinea requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with one for a sworn declaration at the time of the company’s registration Togo made starting a business easier and less costly by reducing incorporation fees, improving the work flow at the one-stop shop for company registration and replacing the DB2013 Togo requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with one for a sworn declaration at the time of the company’s registration. Benin made starting a business easier by creating a one-stop DB2014 Benin shop. Cape Verde made starting a business easier by abolishing the DB2014 Cape Verde minimum capital requirement. Côte d’Ivoire made starting a business easier by creating a one-stop shop, reducing the notary fees and replacing the DB2014 Côte d'Ivoire requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with one for a sworn declaration at the time of company registration. Ghana made starting a business more difficult by requiring DB2014 Ghana entrepreneurs to obtain a tax identification number prior to company incorporation. Guinea made starting a business easier by enabling the one- DB2014 Guinea stop shop to publish incorporation notices and by reducing Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 21 DB year Economy Reform the notary fees. Liberia made starting a business easier by eliminating the DB2014 Liberia business trade license fees and reducing the time to obtain the business registration certificate. Mali made starting a business more difficult by ceasing to DB2014 Mali regularly publish the incorporation notices of new companies on the official website of the one-stop shop. Niger made starting a business easier by replacing the requirement for a copy of the founders’ criminal records with DB2014 Niger one for a sworn declaration at the time of company registration. Togo made starting a business easier by reducing the time DB2014 Togo required to register at the one-stop shop and by reducing registration costs. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 22 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Regulation of construction is critical to protect the WHAT THE DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION public. But it needs to be efficient, to avoid PERMITS INDICATORS MEASURE excessive constraints on a sector that plays an important part in every economy. Where complying with building regulations is excessively costly in Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number) time and money, many builders opt out. They may pay bribes to pass inspections or simply build Submitting all relevant documents and illegally, leading to hazardous construction that obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, puts public safety at risk. Where compliance is permits and certificates simple, straightforward and inexpensive, everyone Submitting all required notifications and is better off. receiving all necessary inspections What do the indicators cover? Obtaining utility connections for water, sewerage and a land telephone line Doing Business records the procedures, time and cost for a business in the construction industry to Registering the warehouse after its obtain all the necessary approvals to build a simple completion (if required for use as collateral or commercial warehouse in the economy’s main city, for transfer of warehouse) connect it to basic utilities and register the Time required to complete each procedure property so that it can be used as collateral or (calendar days) transferred to another entity. Does not include time spent gathering The ranking on the ease of dealing with information construction permits is the simple average of the Each procedure starts on a separate day. percentile rankings on its component indicators: Procedures that can be fully completed online procedures, time and cost. are an exception to this rule. To make the data comparable across economies, Procedure completed once final document is Doing Business uses several assumptions about the received business and the warehouse, including the utility No prior contact with officials connections. The business: Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita) • Is a limited liability company operating in Official costs only, no bribes the construction business and located in the largest business city. • Will be connected to water, sewerage (sewage system, septic tank or their • Is domestically owned and operated. equivalent) and a fixed telephone line. • Has 60 builders and other employees. • The connection to each utility network will be The warehouse: 10 meters (32 feet, 10 inches) long. • Is a new construction (there was no • Will be used for general storage, such as of previous construction on the land). books or stationery (not for goods requiring special conditions). • Has complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a licensed architect or • Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all engineer. delays due to administrative and regulatory requirements). Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 23 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in with construction permits suggest an answer (figure Economic Community of West African States 3.1). The average ranking of the region and (ECOWAS) to legally build a warehouse? The global comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. rankings of these economies on the ease of dealing Figure 3.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of dealing with construction permits Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 24 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS The indicators underlying the rankings may be more of procedures, the time and the cost (figure 3.2). revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what Comparing these indicators across the region and with it takes to comply with formalities to build a averages both for the region and for comparator warehouse in each economy in the region: the number regions can provide useful insights. Figure 3.2 What it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Procedures (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 25 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Time (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 26 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Cost (% of income per capita) * Indicates a “no practice” mark. See the data notes for details. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 27 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS What are the changes over time? Smart regulation ensures that standards are met while worked on consolidating permitting requirements. making compliance easy and accessible to all. What construction permitting reforms has Doing Coherent and transparent rules, efficient processes and Business recorded in Economic Community of West adequate allocation of resources are especially African States (ECOWAS) (table 3.1)? important in sectors where safety is at stake. Construction is one of them. In an effort to ensure building safety while keeping compliance costs reasonable, governments around the world have Table 3.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made dealing with construction permits easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Nigeria made obtaining construction permits easier by setting up an official time frame of permit issuance, and DB2008 Nigeria introducing risk-based inspections. Meanwhile, a new building code is going to be implemented. An administrative backlog in the Municipality of Cotonou resulted in an increase of 78 days to obtain a building DB2009 Benin permit. New building regulations were passed in 2007 but are not yet in force. Burkina Faso eliminated random inspections during construction. It also introduced a new one-stop shop for building permits, which reduced approval fees and DB2009 Burkina Faso combined 5 separate payments into a single one. The reforms overall eliminated 17 procedures, reduced 12 days and decreased 430,000 F CFA of cost. Liberia reduced the time to obtain a building permit by 59 days, by introducing a 30 day statutory time limit and DB2009 Liberia eliminating the Minister of Public Works’ signature on small to medium sized construction projects. Liberia also cut the building permit fees in half. Sierra Leone made obtaining construction permits easier by enforcing risk-based inspections during construction. Also, a DB2009 Sierra Leone schedule of inspections is now issued together with building permit. DB2010 Burkina Faso Burkina Faso eased the process of dealing with construction permits by establishing a one-stop shop for processing Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 28 DB year Economy Reform building permits in Ouagadougou. Liberia eased the process of dealing with construction permits by reducing the permit fee and cost of obtaining power generator, abolishing the requirement to obtain a tax DB2010 Liberia waiver certificate before submitting documents to obtain a building permit, and fixed telephone connections have become more readily available for public use with the re- opening of LIBTELCO. Mali made dealing with construction permits easier by DB2010 Mali speeding up the service delivery time for water connections by 30 days. Benin created a new municipal commission to streamline DB2011 Benin construction permitting and set up an ad hoc commission to deal with the backlog in permit applications. Burkina Faso made dealing with construction permits easier DB2011 Burkina Faso by cutting the cost of the soil survey in half and the time to process a building permit application by a third. Côte d’Ivoire eased construction permitting by eliminating DB2011 Côte d'Ivoire the need to obtain a preliminary approval. DB2011 Guinea Guinea increased the cost of obtaining a building permit. Mali eased construction permitting by implementing a DB2011 Mali simplified environmental impact assessment for noncomplex commercial buildings. Sierra Leone made dealing with construction permits easier DB2011 Sierra Leone by streamlining the issuance of location clearances and building permits. Burkina Faso made dealing with construction permits less DB2012 Burkina Faso costly by reducing the fees to obtain a fire safety study. Senegal made obtaining a building permit more expensive DB2012 Senegal by increasing the cost. Benin reduced the time required to obtain a construction DB2013 Benin permit by speeding up the processing of applications. Guinea made obtaining a building permit less expensive by DB2013 Guinea clarifying the method for calculating the cost. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 29 DB year Economy Reform Côte d’Ivoire reduced the time required for obtaining a DB2014 Côte d'Ivoire building permit by streamlining procedures at the one-stop shop (Service du Guichet Unique du Foncier et de l’Habitat). Togo made dealing with construction permits easier by DB2014 Togo improving internal operations at the City Hall of Lomé. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 30 GETTING ELECTRICITY Access to reliable and affordable electricity is vital WHAT THE GETTING ELECTRICITY for businesses. To counter weak electricity supply, many firms in developing economies have to rely INDICATORS MEASURE on self-supply, often at a prohibitively high cost. Whether electricity is reliably available or not, the Procedures to obtain an electricity first step for a customer is always to gain access by connection (number) obtaining a connection. Submitting all relevant documents and What do the indicators cover? obtaining all necessary clearances and permits Doing Business records all procedures required for Completing all required notifications and a local business to obtain a permanent electricity receiving all necessary inspections connection and supply for a standardized Obtaining external installation works and warehouse, as well as the time and cost to possibly purchasing material for these works complete them. These procedures include Concluding any necessary supply contract and applications and contracts with electricity utilities, obtaining final supply clearances from other agencies and the external and final connection works. The ranking on the Time required to complete each procedure ease of getting electricity is the simple average of (calendar days) the percentile rankings on its component Is at least 1 calendar day indicators: procedures, time and cost. To make the Each procedure starts on a separate day data comparable across economies, several assumptions are used. Does not include time spent gathering information The warehouse: Reflects the time spent in practice, with little • Is located in the economy’s largest follow-up and no prior contact with officials business city, in an area where other Cost required to complete each procedure (% warehouses are located. of income per capita) • Is not in a special economic zone where Official costs only, no bribes the connection would be eligible for subsidization or faster service. Excludes value added tax • Has road access. The connection works involve the crossing of a road or roads but are carried out on public land. • Is 150 meters long. • Is a new construction being connected to • Is to either the low-voltage or the medium- electricity for the first time. voltage distribution network and either • Has 2 stories, both above ground, with a overhead or underground, whichever is more total surface of about 1,300.6 square common in the economy and in the area meters (14,000 square feet), and is built on where the warehouse is located. The length a plot of 929 square meters (10,000 square of any connection in the customer’s private feet). domain is negligible. The electricity connection: • Requires crossing of a 10-meter road but all the works are carried out in a public land, so • Is a 3-phase, 4-wire Y, 140-kilovolt-ampere there is no crossing into other people's (kVA) (subscribed capacity) connection. private property. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 31 • Involves installing one electricity meter. The monthly electricity consumption will be 0.07 gigawatt-hour (GWh). The internal electrical wiring has been completed. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 32 GETTING ELECTRICITY Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy is it for entrepreneurs in economies in getting electricity suggest an answer (figure 4.1). The Economic Community of West African States average ranking of the region and comparator regions (ECOWAS) to connect a warehouse to electricity? The provide a useful benchmark. global rankings of these economies on the ease of Figure 4.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of getting electricity Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 33 GETTING ELECTRICITY The indicators underlying the rankings may be more time and the cost (figure 4.2). Comparing these revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what indicators across the region and with averages both for it takes to get a new electricity connection in each the region and for comparator regions can provide economy in the region: the number of procedures, the useful insights. Figure 4.2 What it takes to get an electricity connection in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Procedures (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 34 GETTING ELECTRICITY Time (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 35 GETTING ELECTRICITY Cost (% of income per capita) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 36 GETTING ELECTRICITY What are the changes over time? Obtaining an electricity connection is essential to safety in the connection process while keeping enable a business to conduct its most basic connection costs reasonable, governments around the operations. In many economies the connection world have worked to consolidate requirements for process is complicated by the multiple laws and obtaining an electricity connection. What reforms in regulations involved—covering service quality, general getting electricity has Doing Business recorded in safety, technical standards, procurement practices and Economic Community of West African States internal wiring installations. In an effort to ensure (ECOWAS) (table 4.1)? Table 4.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made getting electricity easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform The Gambia made getting electricity faster by allowing DB2012 Gambia, The customers to choose private contractors to carry out the external connection works. Guinea made getting electricity easier by simplifying the DB2013 Guinea process for connecting new customers to the distribution network. In Liberia obtaining an electricity connection became easier DB2013 Liberia thanks to the adoption of better procurement practices by the Liberia Electricity Corporation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 37 REGISTERING PROPERTY Ensuring formal property rights is fundamental. WHAT THE REGISTERING PROPERTY Effective administration of land is part of that. If INDICATORS MEASURE formal property transfer is too costly or complicated, formal titles might go informal Procedures to legally transfer title on again. And where property is informal or poorly immovable property (number) administered, it has little chance of being accepted as collateral for loans—limiting access to Preregistration procedures (for example, finance. checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, paying property transfer taxes) What do the indicators cover? Registration procedures in the economy’s Doing Business records the full sequence of largest business city procedures necessary for a business to purchase Postregistration procedures (for example, filing property from another business and transfer the title with the municipality) property title to the buyer’s name. The transaction Time required to complete each procedure is considered complete when it is opposable to (calendar days) third parties and when the buyer can use the property, use it as collateral for a bank loan or Does not include time spent gathering resell it. The ranking on the ease of registering information property is the simple average of the percentile Each procedure starts on a separate day. rankings on its component indicators: procedures, Procedures that can be fully completed online time and cost. are an exception to this rule. To make the data comparable across economies, Procedure considered completed once final several assumptions about the parties to the document is received transaction, the property and the procedures are No prior contact with officials used. Cost required to complete each procedure (% The parties (buyer and seller): of property value) • Are limited liability companies, 100% Official costs only, no bribes domestically and privately owned. No value added or capital gains taxes included • Are located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city. • Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals. • Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for the past 10 • Perform general commercial activities. years. The property (fully owned by the seller): • Consists of 557.4 square meters (6,000 square • Has a value of 50 times income per capita. feet) of land and a 10-year-old, 2-story The sale price equals the value. warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet). The warehouse is in good • Is registered in the land registry or condition and complies with all safety cadastre, or both, and is free of title standards, building codes and legal disputes. requirements. There is no heating system. The • Is located in a periurban commercial zone, property will be transferred in its entirety. and no rezoning is required. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 38 REGISTERING PROPERTY Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy is it for entrepreneurs in economies in suggest an answer (figure 5.1). The average ranking of Economic Community of West African States the region and comparator regions provide a useful (ECOWAS) to transfer property? The global rankings of benchmark. these economies on the ease of registering property Figure 5.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of registering property Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 39 REGISTERING PROPERTY The indicators underlying the rankings may be more the time and the cost (figure 5.2). Comparing these revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show indicators across the region and with averages both what it takes to complete a property transfer in each for the region and for comparator regions can economy in the region: the number of procedures, provide useful insights. Figure 5.2 What it takes to register property in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Procedures (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 40 REGISTERING PROPERTY Time (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 41 REGISTERING PROPERTY Cost (% of property value) * Indicates a “no practice” mark. See the data notes for details. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 42 REGISTERING PROPERTY What are the changes over time? Economies worldwide have been making it easier for buyers to use or mortgage their property earlier. What entrepreneurs to register and transfer property—such property registration reforms has Doing Business as by computerizing land registries, introducing time recorded in Economic Community of West African limits for procedures and setting low fixed fees. Many States (ECOWAS) (table 5.1)? have cut the time required substantially—enabling Table 5.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made registering property easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Benin made transferring property cheaper by reducing the registration fee. These measures were in part motivated by DB2008 Benin the desire of these countries to pass the Millennium Challenge Corporation eligibility threshold. Burkina Faso made registering property cheaper by reducing DB2008 Burkina Faso the registration tax. Ghana made registering property faster by eliminating the DB2008 Ghana requirement to register the deed of sale at the Lands Commission The cost of registering property was decreased by reducing the registration or transfer tax. These measures were in part DB2008 Guinea-Bissau motivated by the desire of these countries to pass the Millennium Challenge Corporation eligibility threshold. The time to register a property was reduced by decentralizing DB2008 Mali and reorganizing registries' operations and reassigning staff. Niger made registering property cheaper and faster by DB2008 Niger reducing the registration tax and by streamlining the process at the Direction des Domaines. Burkina Faso eliminated the requirement to obtain the authorization from the Municipality to transfer a property, DB2009 Burkina Faso merged the payment of two taxes at the Land Registry (Conservation Fonciere) and reduced the transfer tax. As a result, the number of procedures to register a property goes Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 43 DB year Economy Reform down from 8 to 6, time is reduced by 45 days and cost by 2%. Senegal introduced time-limits at the Land Registry and at the Directorate of Taxes and Property to improve the process DB2009 Senegal of transferring property in Senegal. Time-limits reduced the time required to obtain registry certificates and to register a property at the Land Registry Sierra Leone had imposed a ban on the Director of Survey’s signature of the cadastral map to avoid a popular scam consisting in selling the same property twice or three times to DB2009 Sierra Leone different people. On April 1st 2008, the government of Sierra Leone lifted the ban. As a result of this reform, the number of days necessary to transfer a property in the country has decreased by 149, from 235 to 86 days. The process of property registration in Burkina Faso was streamlined by allowing the payment of transfer taxes at a special desk of the tax agency at the Land registry. Also, new regulations reorganized the land registry and established DB2010 Burkina Faso statutory time limits for procedures. Property valuation by government officials after the inspections was simplified by using tables of values for properties according to materials used. Sierra Leone re-instated a moratorium on the authorization of DB2010 Sierra Leone property transfers by the Director of Surveys and Lands thus delaying property transfers. Cape Verde eased property registration by switching from DB2011 Cape Verde fees based on a percentage of the property value to lower fixed rates. Mali eased property transfers by reducing the property DB2011 Mali transfer tax for firms from 15% of the property value to 7%. Sierra Leone lifted a moratorium on sales of privately owned DB2011 Sierra Leone properties. DB2012 Cape Verde Cape Verde made registering property faster by implementing time limits for the notaries and the land Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 44 DB year Economy Reform registry. Sierra Leone made registering property easier by DB2013 Sierra Leone computerizing the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment. Cape Verde made property transfers faster by digitizing its DB2014 Cape Verde land registry. Côte d’Ivoire made transferring property easier by DB2014 Côte d'Ivoire streamlining procedures and reducing the property transfer tax. Guinea made transferring property easier by reducing the DB2014 Guinea property transfer tax. Guinea-Bissau made transferring property easier by DB2014 Guinea-Bissau increasing the number of notaries dealing with property transactions. Liberia made transferring property easier by digitizing the DB2014 Liberia records at the land registry. Niger made transferring property easier by reducing the DB2014 Niger registration fees. Senegal made transferring property easier by reducing the DB2014 Senegal property transfer tax. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 45 GETTING CREDIT Two types of frameworks can facilitate access to WHAT THE GETTING CREDIT INDICATORS credit and improve its allocation: credit information MEASURE systems and the borrowers and lenders’ rights in collateral and bankruptcy laws. Credit information Strength of legal rights index (0–10) systems enable lenders to view a potential borrower’s financial history (positive or negative)— Protection of rights of borrowers and lenders valuable information to consider when assessing through collateral laws risk. And they permit borrowers to establish a good Protection of secured creditors’ rights through credit history that will allow easier access to credit. bankruptcy laws Sound collateral laws enable businesses to use their assets, especially movable property, as security to Depth of credit information index (0–6) generate capital—while strong creditors’ rights Scope and accessibility of credit information have been associated with higher ratios of private distributed by public credit registries and sector credit to GDP. private credit bureaus What do the indicators cover? Public credit registry coverage (% of adults) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit Number of individuals and firms listed in information and the legal rights of borrowers and public credit registry as percentage of adult lenders with respect to secured transactions population through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index measures rules and practices Private credit bureau coverage (% of adults) affecting the coverage, scope and accessibility of Number of individuals and firms listed in credit information available through a public credit largest private credit bureau as percentage of registry or a private credit bureau. The strength of adult population legal rights index measures whether certain features that facilitate lending exist within the applicable collateral and bankruptcy laws. Doing Business uses case scenarios to determine the scope of the • Has up to 100 employees. secured transactions system, involving a secured • Is 100% domestically owned, as is the lender. borrower and a secured lender and examining legal The ranking on the ease of getting credit is based on restrictions on the use of movable collateral. These the percentile rankings on the sum of its component scenarios assume that the borrower: indicators: the depth of credit information index and • Is a private, incorporated, limited liability the strength of legal rights index. company. • Has its headquarters and only base of operations in the largest business city. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 46 GETTING CREDIT Where do the region’s economies stand today? How well do the credit information systems and rankings of these economies on the ease of getting collateral and bankruptcy laws in economies in credit suggest an answer (figure 6.1). The average Economic Community of West African States ranking of the region and comparator regions provide (ECOWAS) facilitate access to credit? The global a useful benchmark. Figure 6.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of getting credit Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 47 GETTING CREDIT Another way to assess how well regulations and particular score on the strength of legal rights index. institutions support lending and borrowing in the Figure 6.3 shows the same thing for the depth of credit region is to look at the distribution of its economies by information index. Higher scores indicate stronger their scores on the getting credit indicators. Figure 6.2 legal rights for borrowers and lenders and more credit shows how many economies in the region received a information. Figure 6.2 How strong are legal rights for borrowers Figure 6.3 How extensive—and how accessible—is and lenders in economies in Economic Community of credit information in economies in Economic West African States (ECOWAS)? Community of West African States (ECOWAS)? Number of economies in region with each score on strength Number of economies in region with each score on depth of of legal rights index (0–10) credit information index (0–6) Note: Higher scores indicate that collateral and bankruptcy Note: Higher scores indicate the availability of more credit laws are better designed to facilitate access to credit. information, from either a credit registry or a credit bureau, Source: Doing Business database. to facilitate lending decisions. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 48 GETTING CREDIT What are the changes over time? When economies strengthen the legal rights of lenders access to credit. What credit reforms has Doing and borrowers under collateral and bankruptcy laws, Business recorded in Economic Community of West and increase the scope, coverage and accessibility of African States (ECOWAS) (table 6.1)? credit information, they can increase entrepreneurs’ Table 6.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made getting credit easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Ghana passed a new Insolvency Act in 2006. There is no DB2008 Ghana automatic stay of enforcement during re-organization. Liberia has created a nascent public credit registry in the Central Bank of Liberia. The registry provides banks with DB2009 Liberia credit information on potential borrowers and helps them improve their risk management tools Cape Verde improved its access to credit information by introducing on-line capacities for providers and retrievers of DB2010 Cape Verde information. At the same time, Cape Verde raised the minimum loan threshold for individuals from 1000 CVE to 5000 CVE. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a guideline in DB2010 Nigeria October 2008 that defines the licensing, operational and regulatory requirements for a privately owned credit bureau. Sierra Leone enacted a new Companies Act that provides companies with fixed and floating charges that can be used DB2010 Sierra Leone to secure collateral, including future assets and automatic extension of the security interest to the proceeds, replacements and productions of the collateral. Ghana enhanced access to credit by granting an operating license to a private credit bureau that began operations in DB2011 Ghana April 2010. In addition, Ghana strengthened access to credit by establishing a centralized collateral registry. Access to credit in Benin was improved through amendments DB2012 Benin to the OHADA (Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa) Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be used as Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 49 DB year Economy Reform collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Access to credit in Burkina Faso was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be DB2012 Burkina Faso used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Cape Verde improved its credit information system by DB2012 Cape Verde introducing a new online platform and by starting to provide 5 years of historical data. Access to credit in Côte d’Ivoire was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be DB2012 Côte d'Ivoire used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Access to credit in Guinea was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be DB2012 Guinea used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Access to credit in Guinea-Bissau was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be DB2012 Guinea-Bissau used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Liberia strengthened its legal framework for secured transactions by adopting a new commercial code that DB2012 Liberia broadens the range of assets that can be used as collateral (including future assets) and extends the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset. Access to credit in Mali was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that DB2012 Mali broaden the range of assets that can be used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 50 DB year Economy Reform out-of-court enforcement. Access to credit in Niger was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be used as collateral DB2012 Niger (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Access to credit in Senegal was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be DB2012 Senegal used as collateral (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Sierra Leone improved its credit information system by DB2012 Sierra Leone enacting a new law providing for the creation of a public credit registry. Access to credit in Togo was improved through amendments to the OHADA Uniform Act on Secured Transactions that broaden the range of assets that can be used as collateral DB2012 Togo (including future assets), extend the security interest to the proceeds of the original asset and introduce the possibility of out-of-court enforcement. Sierra Leone improved access to credit information by DB2013 Sierra Leone establishing a public credit registry at its central bank and guaranteeing borrowers’ right to inspect their personal data. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 51 PROTECTING INVESTORS Protecting investors matters for the ability of WHAT THE PROTECTING INVESTORS companies to raise the capital they need to grow, INDICATORS MEASURE innovate, diversify and compete. If the laws do not protect minority shareholders, investors may be Extent of disclosure index (0–10) reluctant to provide funding to companies through the purchase of shares unless they become the Approval process for related-party controlling shareholders. Effective regulations define transactions related-party transactions precisely, promote clear Disclosure requirements in case of related- and efficient disclosure requirements, require party transactions shareholder participation in major decisions of the company and set detailed standards of accountability Extent of director liability index (0–10) for company insiders. Ability of minority shareholders to file a direct or derivative lawsuit What do the indicators cover? Ability of minority shareholders to hold Doing Business measures the strength of minority interested parties and members of the shareholder protections against directors’ use of approving body liable for prejudicial related- corporate assets for personal gain—or self-dealing. party transactions The indicators distinguish 3 dimensions of investor Available legal remedies (damages, protections: transparency of related-party disgorgement of profits, fines, imprisonment transactions (extent of disclosure index), liability for and rescission of the transaction) self-dealing (extent of director liability index) and minority shareholders’ access to evidence before and Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) during (ease of shareholder suits index). The ranking Access to internal corporate documents on the strength of investor protection index is the (directly or through a government inspector) simple average of the percentile rankings on these 3 indices. To make the data comparable across Documents and information available during trial economies, a case study uses several assumptions about the business and the transaction. Strength of investor protection index (0–10) The business (Buyer): Simple average of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of • Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the shareholder suits indices economy’s most important stock exchange (or at least a large private company with multiple shareholders). • The price is higher than the going price for used trucks, but the transaction goes forward. • Has a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of • All required approvals are obtained, and all Buyer where permitted, even if this is not required disclosures made, though the specifically required by law. transaction is prejudicial to Buyer. The transaction involves the following details: • Shareholders sue the interested parties and the members of the board of directors. • Mr. James, a director and the majority shareholder of the company, proposes that the company purchase used trucks from another company he owns. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 52 Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 53 PROTECTING INVESTORS Where do the region’s economies stand today? How strong are investor protections against self- indicator does not measure all aspects related to the dealing in economies in Economic Community of West protection of minority investors, a higher ranking does African States (ECOWAS)? The global rankings of these indicate that an economy’s regulations offer stronger economies on the strength of investor protection investor protections against self-dealing in the areas index suggest an answer (figure 7.1). While the measured. Figure 7.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the strength of investor protection index Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 54 PROTECTING INVESTORS But the overall ranking on the strength of investor shareholder suits indices may also be revealing (figure protection index tells only part of the story. Economies 7.2). Higher scores indicate stronger investor may offer strong protections in some areas but not protections. Comparing the scores across the region others. So the number of economies in Economic on the strength of investor protection index and with Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that averages both for the region and for comparator have a certain score recorded on the extent of regions can provide useful insights. disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of Figure 7.2 How strong are investor protections in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)? Strength of investor protection index (0–10) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 55 PROTECTING INVESTORS Extent of disclosure index (0–10) Extent of director liability index (0–10) Number of economies in region with each score on extent of Number of economies in region with each score on extent of disclosure index (0–10) director liability index (0–10) Note: Higher scores indicate greater disclosure. Note: Higher scores indicate greater liability of directors. Source: Doing Business database. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 56 PROTECTING INVESTORS Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) Number of economies in region with each score on ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) Note: Higher scores indicate greater powers of shareholders to challenge the transaction. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 57 PROTECTING INVESTORS What are the changes over time? Economies with the strongest protections of minority protections may move ahead on different fronts—such investors from self-dealing require detailed disclosure as through new or amended company laws, securities and define clear duties for directors. They also have regulations or revisions to court procedures. What well-functioning courts and up-to-date procedural investor protection reforms has Doing Business rules that give minority shareholders the means to recorded in Economic Community of West African prove their case and obtain a judgment within a States (ECOWAS) (table 7.1)? reasonable time. So reforms to strengthen investor Table 7.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) strengthened investor protections—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Mali strengthened investor protections with an amendment DB2010 Mali to the Civil Procedure Code that increased shareholder access to corporate information during trial. Sierra Leone strengthened investor protections with a new DB2010 Sierra Leone company law that enhanced director liability and improved disclosure requirements. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 58 PAYING TAXES Taxes are essential. They fund the public amenities, WHAT THE PAYING TAXES INDICATORS infrastructure and services that are crucial for a MEASURE properly functioning economy. But the level of tax rates needs to be carefully chosen—and needless Tax payments for a manufacturing company complexity in tax rules avoided. According to in 2012 (number per year adjusted for Doing Business data, in economies where it is more electronic or joint filing and payment) difficult and costly to pay taxes, larger shares of economic activity end up in the informal sector— Total number of taxes and contributions paid, including consumption taxes (value added tax, where businesses pay no taxes at all. sales tax or goods and service tax) What do the indicators cover? Method and frequency of filing and payment Using a case scenario, Doing Business measures the taxes and mandatory contributions that a Time required to comply with 3 major taxes medium-size company must pay in a given year as (hours per year) well as the administrative burden of paying taxes Collecting information and computing the tax and contributions. This case scenario uses a set of payable financial statements and assumptions about Completing tax return forms, filing with transactions made over the year. Information is proper agencies also compiled on the frequency of filing and Arranging payment or withholding payments as well as time taken to comply with tax laws. The ranking on the ease of paying taxes is Preparing separate tax accounting books, if the simple average of the percentile rankings on required its component indicators: number of annual Total tax rate (% of profit) payments, time and total tax rate, with a threshold 1 being applied to the total tax rate. To make the Profit or corporate income tax data comparable across economies, several Social contributions and labor taxes paid by assumptions about the business and the taxes and the employer contributions are used. Property and property transfer taxes • TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that Dividend, capital gains and financial started operations on January 1, 2011. transactions taxes • The business starts from the same financial Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes position in each economy. All the taxes and mandatory contributions paid during • Taxes and mandatory contributions include the second year of operation are recorded. corporate income tax, turnover tax and all labor taxes and contributions paid by the • Taxes and mandatory contributions are company. measured at all levels of government. • A range of standard deductions and exemptions are also recorded. 1 The threshold is defined as the highest total tax rate among the top 15% of economies in the ranking on the total tax rate. It is calculated and adjusted on a yearly basis. The threshold is not based on any economic theory of an “optimal tax rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency in the tax system of an economy overall. Instead, it is mainly empirical in nature, set at the lower end of the distribution of tax rates levied on medium-size enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed through the paying taxes indicators. This reduces the bias in the indicators toward economies that do not need to levy significant taxes on companies like the Doing Business standardized case study company because they raise public revenue in other ways—for example, through taxes on foreign companies, through taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of the methodology). This year’s threshold is 25.5%. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 59 PAYING TAXES Where do the region’s economies stand today? What is the administrative burden of complying with the ease of paying taxes offer useful information for taxes in economies in Economic Community of West assessing the tax compliance burden for businesses African States (ECOWAS)—and how much do firms pay (figure 8.1). The average ranking of the region and in taxes? The global rankings of these economies on comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. Figure 8.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of paying taxes Note: For all economies with a total tax rate below the threshold of 25.5% applied in DB2014, the total tax rate is set at 25.5% for the purpose of calculating the ranking on the ease of paying taxes. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 60 PAYING TAXES The indicators underlying the rankings may be more as well as the total tax rate (figure 8.2). Comparing revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what these indicators across the region and with averages it takes to comply with tax regulations in each both for the region and for comparator regions can economy in the region—the number of payments per provide useful insights. year and the time required to prepare and file taxes— Figure 8.2 How easy is it to pay taxes in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)— and what are the total tax rates? Payments (number per year) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 61 PAYING TAXES Time (hours per year) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 62 PAYING TAXES Total tax rate (% of profit) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 63 PAYING TAXES What are the changes over time? Economies around the world have made paying taxes concrete results. Some economies simplifying tax faster and easier for businesses—such as by payment and reducing rates have seen tax revenue consolidating filings, reducing the frequency of rise. What tax reforms has Doing Business recorded in payments or offering electronic filing and payment. Economic Community of West African States Many have lowered tax rates. Changes have brought (ECOWAS) (table 8.1)? Table 8.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made paying taxes easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Côte d'Ivoire reduced the tax burden for companies by DB2008 Côte d'Ivoire reducing the corporate income tax rate and the tax on insurance contract Sierra Leone reduced the tax burden for companies by DB2008 Sierra Leone reducing the sales tax rate Effective 1 January 2008, corporate income tax rate reduced from 35% to 30%. Tax on dividends reduced from 155 to 10% DB2009 Burkina Faso in 2007, and property transfer taxes lowered from 15% to 10%, and will further be lowered from 10% to 8%. Effective 1 January 2008, real estate tax on developed land DB2009 Côte d'Ivoire reformed, and corporate income tax rate reduced from 27% to 25%. Benin has lowered the tax burden on business by cutting DB2010 Benin corporate income tax from 38% to 30% and has reduced the cost of employment by cutting payroll tax from 8% to 4%. Cape Verde reduced tax burden on businesses by reducing DB2010 Cape Verde the corporate income tax rates from 30% to 25%. Sierra Leone has made it easier to pay taxes by improving training and equipment at the Tax Authority, and by DB2010 Sierra Leone publishing a consolidated Income Tax Act, and has introduced a VAT system that replaces four different sales taxes. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 64 DB year Economy Reform Togo reduced tax burden on businesses by reducing the DB2010 Togo corporate income tax rates from 37% to 30%. Burkina Faso reduced the statutory tax rate and the number DB2011 Burkina Faso of taxes for business and introduced simpler, uniform compliance procedures. DB2011 Cape Verde Cape Verde abolished the stamp duties on sales and checks. DB2011 Niger Niger reduced its corporate income tax rate. Sierra Leone replaced sales and service taxes with a goods DB2011 Sierra Leone and service tax. Côte d’Ivoire eliminated a tax on firms, the contribution for DB2012 Côte d'Ivoire national reconstruction (contribution pour la reconstruction nationale). The Gambia reduced the minimum turnover tax and DB2012 Gambia, The corporate income tax rates. DB2012 Togo Togo reduced its corporate income tax rate. Liberia made paying taxes easier for companies by reducing DB2013 Liberia the profit tax rate and abolishing the turnover tax. Mali made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the corporate income tax rate—though it also introduced a DB2013 Mali new tax on land. At the same time, Mali simplified the processes of paying taxes by introducing a single form for joint filing and payment of several taxes. Nigeria introduced a new compulsory labor contribution paid DB2013 Nigeria by the employer. Burkina Faso made paying taxes easier for companies by DB2014 Burkina Faso abolishing the separate capital gains tax on real estate properties. Côte d'Ivoire made paying taxes more costly for companies DB2014 Côte d'Ivoire by increasing the employers’contribution rate for social security related to retirement and by increasing the rate for Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 65 DB year Economy Reform the special tax on equipment. The Gambia made paying taxes easier for companies by DB2014 Gambia, The replacing the sales tax with a value added tax. Senegal made paying taxes more costly by increasing the corporate income tax rate. At the same time, Senegal DB2014 Senegal facilitated tax payments by making tax forms available online and creating the Center for Medium Enterprises. Togo made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing the corporate income tax rate and employers' DB2014 Togo social security contribution rate and by introducing a new tax on corporate cars. At the same time, Togo reduced the payroll tax rate. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 66 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS In today’s globalized world, making trade between WHAT THE TRADING ACROSS BORDERS economies easier is increasingly important for INDICATORS MEASURE business. Excessive document requirements, burdensome customs procedures, inefficient port operations and inadequate infrastructure all lead to extra costs and delays for exporters and importers, Documents required to export and import stifling trade potential. Research shows that (number) exporters in developing countries gain more from Bank documents a 10% drop in their trading costs than from a Customs clearance documents similar reduction in the tariffs applied to their products in global markets. Port and terminal handling documents What do the indicators cover? Transport documents Doing Business measures the time and cost Time required to export and import (days) (excluding tariffs and the time and cost for sea Obtaining, filling out and submitting all the transport) associated with exporting and documents importing a standard shipment of goods by sea transport, and the number of documents necessary Inland transport and handling to complete the transaction. The indicators cover Customs clearance and inspections procedural requirements such as documentation Port and terminal handling requirements and procedures at customs and other regulatory agencies as well as at the port. They also Does not include sea transport time cover trade logistics, including the time and cost of inland transport to the largest business city. The Cost required to export and import (US$ per container) ranking on the ease of trading across borders is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its All documentation component indicators: documents, time and cost Inland transport and handling to export and import. Customs clearance and inspections To make the data comparable across economies, Port and terminal handling Doing Business uses several assumptions about the business and the traded goods. Official costs only, no bribes The business: • Do not require refrigeration or any other special environment. • Is of medium size and employs 60 people. • Do not require any special phytosanitary or • Is located in the periurban area of the environmental safety standards other than economy’s largest business city. accepted international standards. • Is a private, limited liability company, • Are one of the economy’s leading export or domestically owned, formally registered import products. and operating under commercial laws and regulations of the economy. • Are transported in a dry-cargo, 20-foot full container load. The traded goods: • Are not hazardous nor do they include military items. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 67 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for businesses in economies in Economic suggest an answer (figure 9.1). The average ranking of Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to export the region and comparator regions provide a useful and import goods? The global rankings of these benchmark. economies on the ease of trading across borders Figure 9.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of trading across borders Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 68 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS The indicators underlying the rankings may be more documents, the time and the cost (figure 9.2). revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what Comparing these indicators across the region and with it takes to export or import a standard container of averages both for the region and for comparator goods in each economy in the region: the number of regions can provide useful insights. Figure 9.2 What it takes to trade across borders in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Documents to export (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 69 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Time to export (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 70 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Cost to export (US$ per container) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 71 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Documents to import (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 72 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Time to import (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 73 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Cost to import (US$ per container) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 74 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS What are the changes over time? In economies around the world, trading across borders systems. These changes help improve their trading as measured by Doing Business has become faster and environment and boost firms’ international easier over the years. Governments have introduced competitiveness. What trade reforms has Doing tools to facilitate trade—including single windows, Business recorded in Economic Community of West risk-based inspections and electronic data interchange African States (ECOWAS) (table 9.1)? Table 9.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made trading across borders easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform The Gambia has eased trading across borders by abolishing DB2008 Gambia, The the compulsory scanning of all containers, replacing it with a random inspection system. Ghana eased trading across borders by reducing congestion DB2008 Ghana at the port area. Due to port infrastructure improvements export time DB2009 Benin decreased. Liberia cut fees for customs clearance and port and terminal DB2009 Liberia handling Mali eased trading across borders by introducing a new DB2009 Mali electronic data interchange system and by reaching a border cooperation agreement with Senegal. Port facilities at Apapa port in Lagos were upgraded thereby DB2009 Nigeria speeding up the import and export process. Introduction of a single window, EDI and risk-based inspections, extension of customs operating hours, DB2009 Senegal improvements of port and road infrastructure, and reducing checkpoints led to a decrease in time for export and import as well as documentation. DB2009 Sierra Leone Sierra Leone eliminated the Export license for coffee. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 75 DB year Economy Reform Benin implemented an electronic document (EDI) system that DB2010 Benin is improving the time needed to clear goods at customs. Burkina Faso sped up trading across borders with the creation DB2010 Burkina Faso of a one stop shop for commercial trade documents at the Maison de l’Entreprise. Liberia has sped up the trading process with a one stop shop DB2010 Liberia facility bringing together government ministries and agencies, and by streamlining the inspection regime. With the implementation of an EDI system, improvements in the terminals used by Malian traders and the streamlining of DB2010 Mali the documentation required the time to trade has been reduced. Improvements at the container terminal have decreased the time to move containers from the Port of Dakar. Additionnaly, DB2010 Senegal further improvements of the GAINDE system with the expansion of the number of agencies included in the network are facilitating trade. Despite successful efforts to reduce the time to trade in Sierra DB2010 Sierra Leone Leone, some fees were increased making trading across borders more costly. Burkina Faso reduced documentation requirements for DB2011 Burkina Faso importers and exporters, making it easier to trade. Mali eliminated redundant inspections of imported goods, DB2011 Mali reducing the time for trading across borders. The Gambia made trading across borders faster by DB2012 Gambia, The implementing the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA). Liberia made trading across borders faster by implementing DB2012 Liberia online submission of customs forms and enhancing risk- based inspections. Senegal made trading across borders less costly by opening DB2012 Senegal the market for transport, which increased competition. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 76 DB year Economy Reform Sierra Leone made trading across borders faster by DB2012 Sierra Leone implementing the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA). Benin reduced the time required to trade across borders by implementing an electronic single-window system integrating DB2013 Benin customs, control agencies, port authorities and other service providers at the Cotonou port. Ghana added to the time required to import by increasing its DB2013 Ghana scanning of imports and changing its customs clearance system. Niger reduced the time to import by expanding and DB2013 Niger optimizing the use of an electronic data interchange system for customs clearance. Benin made trading across borders easier by improving port management systems, enhancing the infrastructure around DB2014 Benin the port and putting in place new rules for the transit of trucks. Guinea made trading across borders easier by improving port DB2014 Guinea management systems. Togo made trading across borders more difficult by granting DB2014 Togo monopoly control of all port activities at the port of Lomé to a private company. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 77 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Effective commercial dispute resolution has many WHAT THE ENFORCING CONTRACTS benefits. Courts are essential for entrepreneurs INDICATORS MEASURE because they interpret the rules of the market and protect economic rights. Efficient and transparent Procedures to enforce a contract through courts encourage new business relationships the courts (number) because businesses know they can rely on the courts if a new customer fails to pay. Speedy trials Steps to file and serve the case are essential for small enterprises, which may lack Steps for trial and judgment the resources to stay in business while awaiting the Steps to enforce the judgment outcome of a long court dispute. What do the indicators cover? Time required to complete procedures (calendar days) Doing Business measures the efficiency of the Time to file and serve the case judicial system in resolving a commercial dispute before local courts. Following the step-by-step Time for trial and obtaining judgment evolution of a standardized case study, it collects Time to enforce the judgment data relating to the time, cost and procedural complexity of resolving a commercial lawsuit. The Cost required to complete procedures (% of ranking on the ease of enforcing contracts is the claim) simple average of the percentile rankings on its Average attorney fees component indicators: procedures, time and cost. Court costs The dispute in the case study involves the breach Enforcement costs of a sales contract between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes the case from simple debt enforcement. To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses several assumptions about the case: • The seller and buyer are located in the economy’s largest business city. • The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion. • The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. • The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal. • The seller sues the buyer before a competent court. • The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s movable assets. • The value of the claim is 200% of income per capita. • The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 78 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Where do the region’s economies stand today? How efficient is the process of resolving a commercial enforcing contracts suggest an answer (figure 10.1). dispute through the courts in economies in Economic The average ranking of the region and comparator Community of West African States (ECOWAS)? The regions provide a useful benchmark. global rankings of these economies on the ease of Figure 10.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of enforcing contracts Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 79 ENFORCING CONTRACTS The indicators underlying the rankings may also be procedures, the time and the cost (figure 10.2). revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what Comparing these indicators across the region and with it takes to enforce a contract through the courts in averages both for the region and for comparator each economy in the region: the number of regions can provide useful insights. Figure 10.2 What it takes to enforce a contract through the courts in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Procedures (number) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 80 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Time (days) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 81 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Cost (% of claim) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 82 ENFORCING CONTRACTS What are the changes over time? Economies in all regions have improved contract periodic reviews to clear inactive cases from the docket enforcement in recent years. A judiciary can be and by making procedures faster. What reforms improved in different ways. Higher-income economies making it easier (or more difficult) to enforce contracts tend to look for ways to enhance efficiency by has Doing Business recorded in Economic Community introducing new technology. Lower-income economies of West African States (ECOWAS) (table 10.1)? often work on reducing backlogs by introducing Table 10.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made enforcing contracts easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the operation of the DB2008 Burkina Faso commercial court made commercial dispute resolution more efficient. Ghana introduced commercial courts in the capital, makin DB2008 Ghana commercial dispute resolution more efficient. Burkina Faso has improved contract enforcement by reducing DB2010 Burkina Faso fees, and introducing alternative dispute mechanisms. Mali's amendments to its Civil Procedure Code improve the contract enforcement procedures by allowing summons to DB2010 Mali be served upon filing the plaint at the competent court without intervention of the judge, and introducing case time limits. Burkina Faso made enforcing contracts easier by setting up a DB2011 Burkina Faso specialized commercial court and abolishing the fee to register judicial decisions. Guinea-Bissau established a specialized commercial court, DB2011 Guinea-Bissau speeding up the enforcement of contracts. Senegal made enforcing contracts easier by launching DB2012 Senegal specialized commercial chambers in the court. Sierra Leone made enforcing contracts easier by launching a DB2012 Sierra Leone fast-track commercial court. Benin made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a new DB2013 Benin code of civil, administrative and social procedures. Liberia made enforcing contracts easier by creating a DB2013 Liberia specialized commercial court. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 83 DB year Economy Reform Côte d’Ivoire made enforcing contracts easier by creating a DB2014 Côte d'Ivoire specialized commercial court. Togo made enforcing contracts easier by creating specialized DB2014 Togo commercial divisions within the court of first instance. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 84 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY A robust bankruptcy system functions as a filter, WHAT THE RESOLVING INSOLVENCY ensuring the survival of economically efficient INDICATORS MEASURE companies and reallocating the resources of inefficient ones. Fast and cheap insolvency proceedings result in the speedy return of Time required to recover debt (years) businesses to normal operation and increase Measured in calendar years returns to creditors. By improving the expectations of creditors and debtors about the outcome of Appeals and requests for extension are insolvency proceedings, well-functioning included insolvency systems can facilitate access to finance, Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s save more viable businesses and thereby improve estate) growth and sustainability in the economy overall. Measured as percentage of estate value What do the indicators cover? Court fees Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome Fees of insolvency administrators of insolvency proceedings involving domestic entities. It does not measure insolvency Lawyers’ fees proceedings of individuals and financial Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees institutions. The data are derived from survey Other related fees responses by local insolvency practitioners and verified through a study of laws and regulations as Outcome well as public information on bankruptcy systems. Whether business continues operating as a The ranking on the ease of resolving insolvency is going concern or business assets are sold based on the recovery rate, which is recorded as piecemeal cents on the dollar recouped by creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement Recovery rate for creditors (cents on the (foreclosure) proceedings. The recovery rate is a dollar) function of time, cost and other factors, such as Measures the cents on the dollar recovered lending rate and the likelihood of the company by creditors continuing to operate. Present value of debt recovered To make the data comparable across economies, Official costs of the insolvency proceedings Doing Business uses several assumptions about the are deducted business and the case. It assumes that the Depreciation of furniture is taken into company: account • Is a domestically owned, limited liability Outcome for the business (survival or not) company operating a hotel. affects the maximum value that can be recovered • Operates in the economy’s largest business city. • Has 201 employees, 1 main secured • Has a higher value as a going concern—and creditor and 50 unsecured creditors. that the efficient outcome is either reorganization or sale as a going concern, not piecemeal liquidation. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 85 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Where do the region’s economies stand today? How efficient are insolvency proceedings in economies comparator regions provide a useful benchmark for in Economic Community of West African States assessing the efficiency of insolvency proceedings. (ECOWAS)? The global rankings of these economies on Speed, low costs and continuation of viable businesses the ease of resolving insolvency suggest an answer characterize the top-performing economies. (figure 11.1). The average ranking of the region and Figure 11.1 How economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rank on the ease of resolving insolvency Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 86 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY The indicators underlying the rankings may be more Comparing these indicators across the region and with revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show the averages both for the region and for comparator average time and cost required to resolve insolvency regions can provide useful insights. as well as the average recovery rate (figure 11.2). Figure 11.2 How efficient is the insolvency process in economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Time (years) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 87 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Cost (% of estate) Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 88 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) * Indicates a “no practice” mark. See the data notes for details. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 89 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY What are the changes over time? A well-balanced bankruptcy system distinguishes change. Many recent reforms of bankruptcy laws have companies that are financially distressed but been aimed at helping more of the viable businesses economically viable from inefficient companies that survive. What insolvency reforms has Doing Business should be liquidated. But in some insolvency systems recorded in Economic Community of West African even viable businesses are liquidated. This is starting to States (ECOWAS) (table 11.1)? Table 11.1 How have economies in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made resolving insolvency easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Economy Reform Sierra Leone eased the process of insolvency with a new Companies Act that new provides provisions on re- DB2010 Sierra Leone organization and administration that are new encouraging an ailing business to first try to re-organize rather than going straight into liquidation. Cape Verde introduced qualification requirements for DB2012 Cape Verde insolvency administrators and a shorter time frame for liquidation proceedings. Sierra Leone established a fast-track commercial court in an DB2012 Sierra Leone effort to expedite commercial cases, including insolvency proceedings. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 90 DATA NOTES The indicators presented and analyzed in Doing rounds of verification, leading to revisions or Business measure business regulation and the expansions of the information collected. protection of property rights—and their effect on businesses, especially small and medium-size domestic firms. First, the indicators document the complexity of ECONOMY CHARACTERISTICS regulation, such as the number of procedures to start a business or to register and transfer commercial property. Second, they gauge the time and cost to Gross national income per capita achieve a regulatory goal or comply with regulation, such as the time and cost to enforce a contract, go Doing Business 2014 reports 2012 income per capita through bankruptcy or trade across borders. Third, as published in the World Bank’s World Development they measure the extent of legal protections of Indicators 2013. Income is calculated using the Atlas property, for example, the protections of investors method (current U.S. dollars). For cost indicators against looting by company directors or the range of expressed as a percentage of income per capita, assets that can be used as collateral according to 2012 gross national income (GNI) in U.S. dollars is secured transactions laws. Fourth, a set of indicators used as the denominator. GNI data were not documents the tax burden on businesses. Finally, a set available from the World Bank for Afghanistan, The of data covers different aspects of employment Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, regulation. The 11 sets of indicators measured in Djibouti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Doing Business were added over time, and the sample Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, San Marino, the of economies expanded. Syrian Arab Republic, West Bank and Gaza, and the Republic of Yemen. In these cases GDP or GNP per The data for all sets of indicators in Doing Business 2 capita data and growth rates from other sources, 2014 are for June 2013. such as the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database and the Economist Intelligence Unit, were used. Methodology Region and income group The Doing Business data are collected in a standardized way. To start, the Doing Business team, Doing Business uses the World Bank regional and with academic advisers, designs a questionnaire. The income group classifications, available at questionnaire uses a simple business case to ensure http://data.worldbank.org/about/country- classifications. The World Bank does not assign comparability across economies and over time—with regional classifications to high-income economies. assumptions about the legal form of the business, its For the purpose of the Doing Business report, high- size, its location and the nature of its operations. income OECD economies are assigned the “regional” Questionnaires are administered to more than 10,200 classification OECD high income. Figures and tables local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, presenting regional averages include economies accountants, freight forwarders, government officials from all income groups (low, lower middle, upper and other professionals routinely administering or middle and high income). advising on legal and regulatory requirements (table Population 21.2). These experts have several rounds of interaction with the Doing Business team, involving conference Doing Business 2014 reports midyear 2012 calls, written correspondence and visits by the team. population statistics as published in World For Doing Business 2014 team members visited 33 Development Indicators 2013. economies to verify data and recruit respondents. The data from questionnaires are subjected to numerous The Doing Business methodology offers several advantages. It is transparent, using factual information 2 The data for paying taxes refer to January – December 2012. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 91 about what laws and regulations say and allowing reasons the time delays reported in Doing Business multiple interactions with local respondents to clarify 2014 would differ from the recollection of potential misinterpretations of questions. Having entrepreneurs reported in the World Bank Enterprise representative samples of respondents is not an issue; Surveys or other perception surveys. Doing Business is not a statistical survey, and the texts This year Doing Business completed subnational of the relevant laws and regulations are collected and studies in Colombia, Italy and the city of Hargeisa answers checked for accuracy. The methodology is (Somaliland) and is currently updating indicators in inexpensive and easily replicable, so data can be Egypt, Mexico and Nigeria. Doing Business also collected in a large sample of economies. Because published regional studies for the g7+ and the East standard assumptions are used in the data collection, African Community. The g7+ group is a country- comparisons and benchmarks are valid across owned and country-led global mechanism established economies. Finally, the data not only highlight the in April 2010 to monitor, report and draw attention to extent of specific regulatory obstacles to business but the unique challenges faced by fragile states. The also identify their source and point to what might be member countries included in the report are reformed. Information on the methodology for each Afghanistan, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Doing Business topic can be found on the Doing Chad, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Business website at Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology. Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Togo. Limits to what is measured The subnational studies point to differences in business regulation and its implementation—as well as The Doing Business methodology has 5 limitations that in the pace of regulatory reform—across cities in the should be considered when interpreting the data. First, same economy. For several economies subnational the collected data refer to businesses in the economy’s studies are now periodically updated to measure largest business city (which in some economies differs change over time or to expand geographic coverage from the capital) and may not be representative of to additional cities. This year that is the case for all the regulation in other parts of the economy. To address subnational studies published. this limitation, subnational Doing Business indicators were created (box 21.1). Second, the data often focus on a specific business form—generally a limited Changes in what is measured liability company (or its legal equivalent) of a specified size—and may not be representative of the regulation The methodology for 2 indicator sets—trading across on other businesses, for example, sole proprietorships. borders and paying taxes—was updated this year. For Third, transactions described in a standardized case trading across borders, documents that are required scenario refer to a specific set of issues and may not purely for purposes of preferential treatment are no represent the full set of issues a business encounters. longer included in the list of documents (for example, Fourth, the measures of time involve an element of a certificate of origin if the use is only to qualify for a judgment by the expert respondents. When sources preferential tariff rate under trade agreements). For indicate different estimates, the time indicators paying taxes, the value of fuel taxes is no longer reported in Doing Business represent the median included in the total tax rate because of the difficulty values of several responses given under the of computing these taxes in a consistent way across all assumptions of the standardized case. economies covered. The fuel tax amounts are in most cases very small, and measuring these amounts is Finally, the methodology assumes that a business has often complicated because they depend on fuel full information on what is required and does not consumption. Fuel taxes continue to be counted in the waste time when completing procedures. In practice, number of payments. completing a procedure may take longer if the business lacks information or is unable to follow up In a change involving several indicator sets, the rule promptly. Alternatively, the business may choose to establishing that each procedure must take at least 1 disregard some burdensome procedures. For both day was removed for procedures that can be fully Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 92 completed online in just a few hours. This change business and the distance to frontier measure. The affects the time indicator for starting a business, ease of doing business ranking compares economies dealing with construction permits and registering with one another, while the distance to frontier property. For procedures that can be fully completed measure benchmarks economies to the frontier in 3 online, the duration is now set at half a day rather than regulatory practice, measuring the absolute distance to a full day. the best performance on each indicator. Both measures can be used for comparisons over time. The threshold for the total tax rate introduced in 2011 When compared across years, the distance to frontier for the purpose of calculating the ranking on the ease measure shows how much the regulatory environment of paying taxes was updated. All economies with a for local entrepreneurs in each economy has changed total tax rate below the threshold (which is calculated over time in absolute terms, while the ease of doing and adjusted on a yearly basis) receive the same business ranking can show only relative change. ranking on the total tax rate indicator. The threshold is not based on any economic theory of an “optimal tax Ease of doing business rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency The ease of doing business index ranks economies in the tax system of an economy overall. Instead, it is from 1 to 189. For each economy the ranking is mainly empirical in nature, set at the lower end of the calculated as the simple average of the percentile distribution of tax rates levied on medium-size rankings on each of the 10 topics included in the index enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed in Doing Business 2014: starting a business, dealing through the paying taxes indicators. This reduces the with construction permits, getting electricity, bias in the indicators toward economies that do not registering property, getting credit, protecting need to levy significant taxes on companies like the investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, Doing Business standardized case study company enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. The because they raise public revenue in other ways—for employing workers indicators are not included in this example, through taxes on foreign companies, through year’s aggregate ease of doing business ranking. taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of Construction of the ease of doing business index the methodology). This year the threshold is 25,5%. Here is one example of how the ease of doing business index is constructed. In Denmark it takes 4 procedures, 5.5 days and 0.2% of annual income per capita in fees Data challenges and revisions to open a business. The minimum capital requirement Most laws and regulations underlying the Doing is 24% of annual income per capita. On these 4 Business data are available on the Doing Business indicators Denmark ranks in the 12th, 11th, 1st and website at http://www.doingbusiness.org. All the 79th percentiles. So on average Denmark ranks in the sample questionnaires and the details underlying the 25th percentile on the ease of starting a business. It indicators are also published on the website. Questions ranks in the 21st percentile on getting credit, 19th on the methodology and challenges to data can be percentile on paying taxes, 27th percentile on submitted through the website’s “Ask a Question” enforcing contracts, 5th percentile on resolving function at http://www.doingbusiness.org. insolvency and so on. Higher rankings indicate simpler regulation and stronger protection of property rights. Ease of doing business and distance to The simple average of Denmark’s percentile rankings frontier on all topics is 17th. When all economies are ordered Doing Business 2014 presents results for 2 aggregate by their average percentile rankings, Denmark stands measures: the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing at 5 in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business. 3 For getting electricity the rule that each procedure must take a minimum of 1 day still applies because in practice there are no More complex aggregation methods—such as cases in which procedures can be fully completed online in less than principal components and unobserved components— a day. For example, even though in some cases it is possible to yield a ranking nearly identical to the simple average apply for an electricity connection online, additional requirements mean that the process cannot be completed in less than 1 day. Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 93 4 used by Doing Business. Thus, Doing Business uses 58 on enforcing contracts, 116 on dealing with the simplest method: weighting all topics equally and, construction permits and 145 on getting electricity. within each topic, giving equal weight to each of the Variation in performance across the indicator sets is topic components. not at all unusual. It reflects differences in the degree If an economy has no laws or regulations covering a of priority that government authorities give to specific area—for example, insolvency—it receives a particular areas of business regulation reform and the “no practice” mark. Similarly, an economy receives a ability of different government agencies to deliver “no practice” or “not possible” mark if regulation exists tangible results in their area of responsibility. but is never used in practice or if a competing Distance to frontier measure regulation prohibits such practice. Either way, a “no practice” mark puts the economy at the bottom of the A drawback of the ease of doing business ranking is ranking on the relevant indicator. that it can measure the regulatory performance of economies only relative to the performance of others. The ease of doing business index is limited in scope. It It does not provide information on how the absolute does not account for an economy’s proximity to large quality of the regulatory environment is improving markets, the quality of its infrastructure services (other over time. Nor does it provide information on how than services related to trading across borders and large the gaps are between economies at a single getting electricity), the strength of its financial system, point in time. the security of property from theft and looting, macroeconomic conditions or the strength of The distance to frontier measure is designed to underlying institutions. address both shortcomings, complementing the ease of doing business ranking. This measure illustrates the Variability of economies’ rankings across topics distance of an economy to the “frontier,” and the Each indicator set measures a different aspect of the change in the measure over time shows the extent to business regulatory environment. The rankings of an which the economy has closed this gap. The frontier is economy can vary, sometimes significantly, across a score derived from the most efficient practice or indicator sets. The average correlation coefficient highest score achieved on each of the component between the 10 indicator sets included in the indicators in 10 Doing Business indicator sets aggregate ranking is 0.38, and the coefficients (excluding the employing workers indicators) by any between any 2 sets of indicators range from 0.18 economy. In starting a business, for example, Canada (between getting electricity and getting credit) to 0.58 and New Zealand have achieved the highest (between trading across borders and resolving performance on the number of procedures required (1) insolvency and between trading across borders and and on the time (0.5 days), Denmark and Slovenia on getting electricity). These correlations suggest that the cost (0% of income per capita) and Chile, Zambia economies rarely score universally well or universally and 99 other economies on the paid-in minimum badly on the indicators. capital requirement (0% of income per capita) (table 22.2). Consider the example of Canada. It stands at 19 in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business. Its Calculating the distance to frontier for each economy ranking is 2 on starting a business, 4 on protecting involves 2 main steps. First, individual indicator scores investors, and 8 on paying taxes. But its ranking is only are normalized to a common unit: except for the total tax rate, each of the 31 component indicators y is rescaled to (max − y)/(max − min), with the minimum 4 See Simeon Djankov, Darshini Manraj, Caralee McLiesh and Rita Ramalho, “Doing Business Indicators: Why Aggregate, and How to value (min) representing the frontier—the highest Do It” (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005). Principal components performance on that indicator across all economies and unobserved components methods yield a ranking nearly identical to that from the simple average method because both since 2003 or the first year the indicator was collected. 5 these methods assign roughly equal weights to the topics, since the For the total tax rate, consistent with the calculation of pairwise correlations among indicators do not differ much. An alternative to the simple average method is to give different weights to the topics, depending on which are considered of more or less 5 Even though scores for the distance to frontier are calculated from importance in the context of a specific economy. 2005, data from as early as 2003 are used to define the frontier Doing Business 2014 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) 94 the rankings, the frontier is defined as the total tax rate Economies that improved the most across 3 or at the 15th percentile of the overall distribution of more Doing Business topics in 2012/13 total tax rates for all years. Second, for each economy Doing Business 2014 uses a simple method to calculate the scores obtained for individual indicators are which economies improved the most in the ease of aggregated through simple averaging into one doing business. First, it selects the economies that in distance to frontier score, first for each topic and then 2012/13 implemented regulatory reforms making it across all topics. An economy’s distance to frontier is easier to do business in 3 or more of the 10 topics indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents included in this year’s ease of doing business ranking. 6 the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Twenty-nine economies meet this criterion: Azerbaijan, The maximum (max) and minimum (min) observed Belarus, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Djibouti, values are computed for all economies included in the Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, the Doing Business sample since 2003 and for all years former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malaysia, (from 2003 to 2013). To mitigate the effects of extreme Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, outliers in the distributions of the rescaled data (very Panama, the Philippines, the Republic of Congo, few economies need 694 days to complete the Romania, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, procedures to start a business, but many need 9 days), Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates. th the maximum (max) is defined as the 95 percentile of Second, Doing Business sorts these economies on the the pooled data for all economies and all years for increase in their distance to frontier measure from the each indicator. The exceptions are the getting credit, previous year using comparable data. protecting investors and resolving insolvency Selecting the economies that implemented regulatory indicators, whose construction precludes outliers. In reforms in at least 3 topics and improved the most in addition, the cost to export and cost to import for each the distance to frontier measure is intended to year are divided by the GDP deflator, so as to take the highlight economies with ongoing, broadbased reform general price level into account when benchmarking programs. The criterion for identifying the top these absolute-cost indicators across economies with improvers was changed from last year. The different inflation trends. The base year for the deflator improvement in ease of doing business ranking is no is 2013 for all economies. longer used. The improvement in the distance to The difference between an economy’s distance to frontier measure is used instead because under this frontier score in any previous year and its score in measure economies are sorted according to their abs- 2013 illustrates the extent to which the economy has olute improvement instead of relative improvement. closed the gap to the frontier over time. And in any given year the score measures how far an economy is from the highest performance at that time. Take Colombia, which has a score of 70.5 on the distance to frontier measure for 2014. This score indicates that the economy is 29.5 percentage points away from the frontier constructed from the best performances across all economies and all years. Colombia was further from the frontier in 2009, with a score of 66.2. The difference between the scores shows an improvement over time. The distance to frontier measure can also be used for comparisons across economies in the same year, complementing the ease of doing business ranking. For example, Colombia stands at 63 this year in the ease of doing business ranking, while Peru, which is 6 Doing Business reforms making it more difficult to do business are 29.3 percentage points from the frontier, stands at 42. subtracted from the total number of those making it easier to do business. RESOURCES ON THE DOING BUSINESS WEBSITE Current features Business reforms News on the Doing Business project Short summaries of DB2014 business reforms, lists http://www.doingbusiness.org of reforms since DB2008 and a ranking simulation tool Rankings http://www.doingbusiness.org/reforms/ How economies rank—from 1 to 189 http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings/ Historical data Customized data sets since DB2004 Data http://www.doingbusiness.org/custom-query/ All the data for 189 economies—topic rankings, indicator values, lists of regulatory procedures and Law library details underlying indicators Online collection of business laws and regulations http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/ relating to business and gender issues http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library/ Reports http://wbl.worldbank.org/ Access to Doing Business reports as well as subnational and regional reports, reform case Contributors studies and customized economy and regional More than 10,200 specialists in 189 economies profiles who participate in Doing Business http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/ http://www.doingbusiness.org/contributors/doing- business/ Methodology The methodologies and research papers Entrepreneurship data underlying Doing Business Data on business density for 139 economies http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology/ http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics /entrepreneurship/ Research Abstracts of papers on Doing Business topics and Doing Business iPhone App related policy issues Doing Business at a Glance App presents the full http://www.doingbusiness.org/research/ report, rankings and highlights http://www.doingbusiness.org/specialfeatures/