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News and Information
Botswana leads 3rd world economy
| September 10, 2004 |
10 September, 2004
GABORONE - In a newly released report "Doing Business in 2005: Removing Obstacles to Growth" the World Bank has rated Botswana as one of the world's top 20 economies condusive to doing business. The same report ranked Botswana as number one in the developing world.
Described as "a comprehensive resource that no investor, policymaker, or economic advisor should be without", the new World Bank report investigates the scope and manner of regulations that enhances business activity, as well as those that constrain it over time.
Its analysis is based on a new set of quantitative indices that collectively compare the business climate in a total of 145 countries.
Botswana and Thailand were the only two economies in the developing world to be ranked among the global top 20.
World Bank Global Top 20 Economies on the ease of doing business are: 1) New Zealand, 2) United States, 3) Singapor; 4) Hong Kong Territory, China, 5) Australia, 6) Norway, 7) United Kingdom, 8) Canada; 9) Sweden, 10) Japan, 11) Switzerland, 12) Denmark, 13) Netherlands, 14) Finland, 15) Ireland, 16 Belgium, 17) Lithuania, 18) Slovakia, 19) Botswana, 20) Thailand.
The above rankings are based on composite scores that for the first time drew together indicators measuring best practice in seven key business areas: 1) starting a business, 2) hiring and firing workers, 3) enforcing contracts, 4) getting credit, 5) closing a business, 6) registering property and 7) protecting investors.
These indicators are further used to analyze a wide range of economic and social outcomes, such as productivity, investment potential, informality, lack of corruption, unemployment, and poverty alleviation, as well as to identify on a global scale what reforms have worked, where and why.
In its focus on reforms that work, the World Bank specifically cited Botswana as being among the leading global innovators in the critical areas of the ease starting a business, reform of labour laws, and contract enforcement procedures.
In its summary, the World Bank report further emphasises that the countries that have been included in the top 20 did not achieve their standing by zero regulation but rather the quality of their overall regulatory frameworks.
"All the top countries regulate, but they do so in less costly and burdensome ways. And they focus their efforts more on protecting property rights than governments in other countries." the report says.
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Source: Dailynews@gov.bw |
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