The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) AFRICA | Niger | Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice | Recipient Executed Activities | Investment Project Financing | FY 2016 | Seq No: 7 | ARCHIVED on 27-Jun-2019 | ISR37097 | Implementing Agencies: MOP - PIU (CR 51320), Ministry of Planning, Land Management and Community Development, Republic of Niger Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 19-Aug-2015 Effectiveness Date: 01-Dec-2015 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 16-Nov-2018 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: 16-Nov-2018 Original Closing Date: 29-Mar-2019 Revised Closing Date: 30-Dec-2020 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The objective is to improve critical elements of investment climate for the private sector and enhance competitiveness of SME inselected agriculture value chain. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name Component 1: Modernization of the Business Environment:(Cost $2.43 M) Component 2. Increase the competitiveness of selected agricultural value chains:(Cost $13.75 M) Component 3: Project Implementation Support:(Cost $2.10 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status and Key Decisions 1. The Niger Investment Climate Support Project is rated Moderately Satisfactory on both progress towards achieving the Project Development Objective (PDO), and Implementation Progress. Project disbursement stands at 55 percent of the total financing received from the donor as of August 2019. The project has been restructured for the second time to extend the Closing date for the Grant (TF0A0809) by 19 months from May 30, 2019 to December 31, 2020. to allow completion of Project activities. 2. The initial phase of project implementation experienced delays due to various bottlenecks in government procurement approval procedures. Thanks to the operationalization of a new expenditure control system and the recruitment of a dedicated controller (trained by the project on World Bank procedures) for the Project’s line ministry in early 2018, project implementation has recorded progress. 6/27/2019 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) 3. Progress made by project components is outlined below: Component 1: Modernization of the Business Environment 4. Activities under this component aim to support the implementation of reforms with quick impact on the business environment. This component is contributing to the strengthening of institutions geared toward private sector development and export promotion. Specific developments are as follows. a. Sub-component 1.1 “Implementing Investment Climate Reforms”: i. the Project has provided technical support to the Government of Niger to implement reforms related to the Doing Business agenda over the past 3 years, notably reforms of contract enforcement, business registration and trading across borders, thus contributing to the significant progress recorded by Niger in the ease of Doing Business index. More specifically, the distance to frontier score which captures how far on average Niger is from the best performance achieved by an economy on each Doing Business indicator has improved by 30 percent between 2015 and 2018. ii. In addition, reforms implemented with the Project’s support have resulted in savings amounting to more than US$38 million for private sector operators that have registered a business or obtained a construction permit (Direct compliance costs savings). iii. The project has pursued targeted support to investment climate reforms through the modernization of the commercial court. The case management system for the court is ongoing and will enhance the transparency, and efficiency of this jurisdiction. The design of the information system architecture for the commercial court has been finalized. iv. The newly appointed State Minister in charge of Investment Climate Reforms and Private sector development has expressed strong interest in the implementation of the entrepreneur regime in Niger and committed to champion the reform. The Project will support the new Minister in developing an action plan to implement the new regime to foster formalization of private sector operators. b. Sub-component 1.2 “Enabling Institutions for Private Sector Development through (i) Public-Private Dialogue and (ii) Support to the Operationalization of the Export Promotion Agency (ANIPEX)”: i. The project has contributed to the overhaul of ANIPEX’s legal framework and the removal of bottlenecks that were crippling its functioning. It is also financing ANIPEX’s business plan through provision of equipment and capacity building. The recruitment of technical specialists to complement the team has been initiated and is expected to complete by end of September 2019. Component 2: Increase the competitiveness of selected agricultural value chains 5. This component aims to contribute to improved competitiveness of SMEs along the agricultural value chains in Zinder and Diffa. a. Sub-component 2.1 “Support to the Maison de l’Entreprise”: i. The Project has helped “Maison de l’Entreprise” (ME) diversify its Business Development Services for start-up and young businesses, including among other things: diagnostic tools, coaching and mentoring, and a dedicated window for innovation. b. Sub-component 2.2 “Provision of financial and non-financial business development services”: i. The project has established a matching grant scheme for SMEs. A new strategy to enroll beneficiaries and boost the uptake of the matching grant is being implemented. Under this strategy, ME is directly reaching out to potential beneficiaries to help identify and formulate their needs in terms of Business Development Services (BDS). The new approach has led to encouraging results with an average of 20 new proposals per month approved by the selection committee. The Project’s contribution to the delivery of the BDS amounts to US$300,000. The pace of enrollment of new beneficiaries should pick-up further, as an outreach campaign is being rolled out nationwide and the second phase of the business plan competition will be launched in September 2019. ii. The first business plan competition partly funded by the Project has been completed and 100 winning projects have been awarded. Since September 2018, the Project has provided technical assistance (TA) and mentoring services for the winning entrepreneurs to improve the quality of their business plans. Of the 100 winning business plans, 64 have mobilized funding to launch their business activities. c. Sub-component 2.3 “Infrastructure Development”: i. This sub-component finances economic infrastructure, namely roads for the Zinder trade corridor to Nigeria and marketplaces. 60 percent of the infrastructure works in Zinder has been completed. Works should be fully completed by August 30, 2019. This should boost the project disbursement rate, as the infrastructure program amounts to more than 52 percent of the component costs. ii. The progress in Diffa has been slower, due to the security challenges faced by contractors. The Project Implementation Unit (PIU) is working on security arrangements that will help limit contractors’ exposure to security threats and ensure completion of works in Diffa by end of 2019. Among other options being considered, contracts could be amended to finance relocation and distance work for contractors to relocate their base out of Diffa and grant early release to workers. Component 3: Project Implementation Support 6/27/2019 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) 6. Implementation of the activities of the Project is undertaken mainly through the PIU of the IDA-financed Competitiveness and Growth Support Project under on-going arrangements. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance Substantial Substantial Substantial Macroeconomic Substantial Substantial Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies Moderate Moderate Moderate Technical Design of Project or Program Moderate Moderate Moderate Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Sustainability Moderate Moderate Moderate Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Moderate Moderate Moderate Stakeholders Moderate Moderate Moderate Other -- -- -- Overall Substantial Substantial Substantial Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Improved Investment Climate IN00705615 ►Number of DB reforms implemented (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 4.00 4.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 IN00709729 ►Direct compliance cost savings (Amount(USD), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 38,000,000.00 2,000,000.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 IN00709730 6/27/2019 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) ►Increase of sales revenue of beneficiary firms (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 10.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Data should be available in Q1 2020. Comments: IN00709813 ►Direct project beneficiaries, of which female (%) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 14,344.00 2,300.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Progress to date - 14,344 of which 29% are female Comments: IN00720690 of which female (%) (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 29.00 20.00 Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Component 1: Modernization of the Business Environment IN00705620 ►Number of procedures in starting a business (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 6.00 -- 4.00 4.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Simplified business registration procedure Comments: IN00709990 ►Number of day to settle a commercial case (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 545.00 -- 380.00 445.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Faster contract enforcing mechanism Comments: IN00710066 ►Number of procedures to obtain a construction permit (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target 6/27/2019 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) Value 15.00 -- 15.00 9.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Simplified construction permit issuance sytsem Comments: IN00710067 ►Number of documents required to export (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 8.00 -- 7.00 6.00 Date 19-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Cross-border trading process is streamlined Comments: IN00721716 ►Number of documents required to import (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 10.00 -- 8.00 8.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 New regime for small-scale entrepreneurs is effective Comments: IN00721717 ►Number of new “entreprenant” registered (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 1,000.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 New regime for small-scale entrepreneurs is effective Comments: IN00721718 ►Increase in number of services offered to members (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 1.00 2.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 The Maison de l’Entreprise and private sector organizations offer services tailored to MSMEs in Comments: agricultural value ch ains Component 2. Increase the competitiveness of selected agricultural value chains IN00721685 ►Number of firms that have business plan prepared (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 400.00 500.00 6/27/2019 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 The capacity of actors along the value chains is improved Comments: IN00721712 ►Number of new direct jobs created (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 1,000.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 IN00721719 ►Number of collective market infrastructure constructed (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 5.00 6.00 Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Infrastructures to support the development of the specified agricultural value chains are identified, built, Comments: and managed IN00721713 ►Citizens and/or communities involved in planning/ implementation/ evaluation of development programs (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- Yes Yes Date 01-Aug-2015 -- 19-Jun-2019 30-Dec-2020 Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P148839 TF-A0809 Effective USD 9.08 9.08 0.00 4.95 4.13 55% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P148839 TF-A0809 Effective 19-Aug-2015 25-Aug-2015 01-Dec-2015 29-Mar-2019 30-Dec-2020 Cumulative Disbursements 6/27/2019 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Niger Investment Climate Support (P148839) Restructuring History Level 2 Approved on 29-Mar-2019 ,Level 2 Approved on 30-May-2019 Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 6/27/2019 Page 7 of 7