20101106
africanews

Africa countries have improved their ways of doing business. Rwanda led the table again as Africa's top reformer in the World Bank's annual Ease of Doing Business survey. Although it was beaten into second place by Kazakhstan on the global list, in Africa it moved up 12 places to a global rank of 58th.

Among the other usual suspects doing well in Africa were Ghana and Cape Verde, both up 10 places to 67th and 132nd places respectively. It will be interesting to see what impact the start of oil production in Ghana will have, when the new source of income may mean less need to appeal to foreign donors and investors.

Uganda, also set to start producing oil, rose seven places to 122nd while Zambia continued its strong reform record, rising 8 places to 76th on the list.

But sub-Saharan Africa’s giants again appeared to be lagging. South Africa fell two places to 34th on the list. Kenya was down four places at 98th and Nigeria fell another three places to 98th.

The Democratic Republic of Congo rose four places, but was still only 175th on the table. Some of those foreign resources companies caught up in squabbles over contracts might also question how much change they have seen when it comes to the ease of doing business there.