East Africa Could Match Japan in Ease of Doing Business, Finds IFC-World Bank Report

Arusha, Tanzania, August 17, 2011—IFCand the World Bank today launched a report stating that if the best ofEast African regulations and procedures were implemented across the board,the business regulatory environment in East Africa, as measured by thereport, would be comparable to that in Japan.

The report,Doing Business in theEast African Community 2011, draws on data from the annual global DoingBusinessstudy and takes a detailed look at business regulationsin Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The report states thatEast Africa could benefit from sharing good practices in business regulationas measured by Doing Business.

In the past five years all East AfricanCommunity economies made it easier to do business. The average rankingfor those countries is 117 out of 183 economies overall inDoing Business2011. Kenya has some of the most business-friendly regulations fordealing with construction permits. Ugandan courts resolve insolvency relativelyefficiently. And Rwanda is among the fastest places to start a business.

“If each East African country was toadopt the region’s best practice for each Doing Business indicator, EastAfrica would rank 18, bringing the community closer to the global top performers,”said Sabine Hertveldt, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialistand co-author of the report.

The East African Community is the regionalintergovernmental organization of the economies studied in this report.In recent years EAC economies have worked to harmonize EAC Customs Unionlegislation and common market protocols while establishing peer-to-peernetworks such as the Network of Reformers, based on similar models in theOrganization of Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union.In July 2010, EAC countries officially entered into a common market.

“We are serious about our role in thecreation of an environment which is attractive to increasing private sectoractivity within and across our borders. We can do this by further streamliningregulations affecting businesses and by ensuring that the business environmentis reassuring to investors,” stated Enos Bukuku, EAC Deputy SecretaryGeneral in a speech delivered on behalf of the EAC Secretary General.

"Although the common market hasopened several opportunities for businesses in the region, it still requiresan investment climate that is properly suited to catalyzing additionaltrade and investment. The EACDoing Businessreport serves as aplatform for private sector and governments to work together to make doingbusiness in the community easier," said Agatha Nderitu, ExecutiveDirector, East African Business Council.

Doing Business in the East AfricanCommunity 2011was prepared as part of the EAC Investment Climate Programsupported by the World Bank Group and PRO€INVEST, a partnership programdeveloped and undertaken by the European Commission on behalf of the African,Caribbean and Pacific Group of states.

Between June 2009 and May 2010, as recordedbyDoing Business 2011, East African countries implemented eightreforms making it easier to do business. That brought the region’s totalsince 2004 to 54. Of the eight reforms, three were carried out in Rwanda,two each in Kenya and Uganda, and one in Burundi. For more informationon this report and about the Doing Business report series, visit

www.doingbusiness.org

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About the World Bank Group

The World Bank Group is one of the world’slargest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprisesfive closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstructionand Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA),which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation(IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the InternationalCentre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institutionplays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve livingstandards for people in the developing world. For more information, pleasevisit

www.worldbank.org

,

www.miga.org

,and

www.ifc.org

.