From Africa Renewal, Vol.20 #3 (October 2006), page 6 By Gumisai Mutume In the short term, countries need to do away with policies that hinder investment, notes the World Bank in its report Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs. African countries impose the most stringent regulations on entrepreneurs, the Bank reports. In Mozambique an investor typically must go through 14 separate procedures over an average of 153 days in order to register a business, while in Sierra Leone a company may have to spend 164 per cent of its gross profits to pay all its business taxes.
The report ranks 155 countries according to how they have reformed their policies to attract investors. Exemplary reformers on the continent include Rwanda, which has reformed its courts and customs procedures. The report praises Mozambique for cutting the property transfer tax from 10 to 2.4 per cent of the property value, the largest such reduction in the world.
African countries need to put their houses in order, says Mr. Nankani. Economic growth and job creation will remain elusive in countries where public policy “chokes private enterprise and discourages business activities.”
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