The World Bank, on Tuesday, October 25, said that Nigeria ranked 169th position out of 190 countries in on its Ease of Doing Business Index for 2017.
The report titled, Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, indicated that Nigeria moved up by one point from 170th position on the 2016 ranking to 169th position for the 2017 ranking.
The World Bank’s Doing Business ranking for 2017 covers 11 indicator sets and provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
The report also shows that most improvement for Nigeria is in area of access to credit where the country moved up by 16th position.
Details of the report reveal that Nigeria ranked 138th position in terms of Starting a Business, 174th position in terms of Getting Construction Permit, 180th position in terms of Getting electricity, 182nd position in terms of Registering Property, 44th position in terms of Getting Credit, 32nd position in terms of Protecting minority investors, 182nd position in terms of Paying Taxes, 181st position in terms of Trading Across Borders, 139th position in terms of Enforcing Contracts, and 140th position in terms of Resolving insolvency.
According to the World Bank, “A record 137 economies around the world have adopted key reforms that make it easier to start and operate small and medium-sized businesses, says Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, the World Bank Group’s annual report on the ease of doing business.
“The new report finds that developing countries carried out more than 75 percent of the 283 reforms in the past year, with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for over one-quarter of all reforms. In its global country rankings of business efficiency, Doing Business 2017 awarded its coveted top spot to New Zealand, Singapore ranks second, followed by Denmark; Hong Kong SAR, China; Republic of Korea; Norway; United Kingdom; United States; Sweden; and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Doing Business data points to continued successes in the ease of doing business worldwide, as governments increasingly take up key business reforms. Starting a new business now takes an average of 21 days worldwide, compared with 46 days 10 years ago.