BUJUMBURA, Burundi – In the latest World Bank Group Doing Business survey, Burundi was ranked 150th out of 189 economies evaluated but took the first place in sub-Saharan Africa for the ease in starting a business.

The country is also ranked fourth for the transfer of ownership indicator and 11th the protection of minority investors in the Africa region.

The Burundi Second Vice-President of the Republic, Eng. Dr. Gervais Rufyikiri, last week asked officials involved in the implementation of Doing Business reforms to work harder and make the impact of the reforms more visible.

He was speaking at the preliminary report on Doing Business reforms in 2016 for Burundi which will be sent to the World Bank by May 31st, 2015 for evaluation.

In his address, the Second Vice-President said since 2010, several reforms have been undertaken and implemented.

He said progress has been made in stimulating the entrepreneurial skills and initiation of investments.

There had also been a gradual conversion of the informal economy into a more formal structure.

Other factors are the promotion of tax compliance, the fight against corruption and related offenses. However the creation of jobs remains a high priority of the government.

Vice President Rufyikiri said despite these encouraging results, efforts must continue to ensure that economic and social spinoffs and different measures related to improving the business climate become more visible.

In this way Burundi will attract foreign investment. He also stressed that the Doing Business 2015 report introduced a change in methodology that affected three out of 10 indicators namely resolving insolvency, investor protection, and access to credit and the classification taking into account the distance to the frontier.

Regarding the classification by the distance to frontier that reflects the difference between the performance of an economy and best business regulatory practices, the Second Vice-President said Burundi has made progress on 5 indicators, which allowed it to be ranked second in the East African Community.

He invited various technical working groups to continue on the same path and work harder in proposing reforms for the benefit of investment promotion and a dynamic private sector, generating jobs and income for the population and hence economic growth in Burundi.

He also thanked the partners who support these reforms including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) for their technical support.

Burundi initiated and implemented reforms on all 10 indicators that measure the Doing Business report are: starting a business, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, dealing with construction, Getting credit, registering property, getting electricity, paying taxes, protecting minority investors, and trading across borders.

Source: East African Business Week

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