Kini Nsom
14 September 2006
A report by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation, IFC, says business instead waned in Cameroon in 2006. According to a survey of the report dubbed "Doing Business 2007" that was conducted in 175 countries in the world, Cameroon is ranked 152.
The report was launched on September 6 during a video conference that was coordinated by senior World Bank official, Tim Carrington in Washington DC. All the World Bank offices in sub-Saharan Africa brought together stakeholders who took part in the video conference.
Cameroon moved from the 147th to 152nd positions, according to the ranking. While commenting on the report, an official at the World Bank in Yaounde said the bane of business in Cameroon is high taxes.
"Business people in Cameroon spent their time worrying on how to pay taxes than concentrating on their businesses", he stated. According to the Resident Representative of the World Bank in Cameroon, Marcus Repnik the ranking borders on track indicators of time and cost to meet government requirements for business start-up, operation, trade, taxation and closure.
Doing Business 2007 highlights the pace of reform to encourage business, jobs and growths. In sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana and Tanzania emerged among the global list of top ten reformers.
Other countries in the group of ten reformers include Georgia, Romania, Mexico, China, Peru, France, Croatia, and Guatemala. The frontline countries of this report are said to have simplified business regulations, strengthened property rights, eased tax borders, increased access to credit and reduced the cost of exporting and importing.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is first from bottom, according to the report. Joseph Kabila's country is said to have made little progress in terms of implementing reforms that would ease business in that vast country. It comes in the 175th position.
Ghana that triumphed as the top reformer in Africa was seen to have executed reforms in trade, tax and property administration. The report lauded Ghana for introducing a single-window clearance process at customs where traders can now file all paper work for all agencies at one place.
It is stated that clearance time dropped from seven days to three days for imports and from four days to two days for exports. Ghana also reduced the corporate tax rate and reconstruction levy for business cutting the overall tax burden from 35.6 percent to 0.5 percent of the property value.
This situation contrasts sharply with that of Cameroon where tax rate is on the rise. The report indicates that one needs five steps and 93 days to register property in Cameroon. It was noted that starting a business, getting credit, paying taxes and protecting
investors are still entangled with administrative bottle necks as compared to the Africa countries that featured in the list of first top reformers as highlighted by the report.
Entrepreneurs who want to start a business in Cameroon can expect to go through 12 steps and an average of 37 days.
The "Doing Business" project report that the World Bank launches every year is based on the efforts of more than 5000 local experts, business consultants, lawyers, accountants, government and leading academics around the world. They provide methodological support and review for the project to be realised.
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