Public Agenda (Accra)
Ama Achiaa Amankwah
12 November 2007
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi has said that Ghana needs a mechanism to sustain reforms achieved in the 'Doing Business' report for 2008.
The report states that Ghana is among the top 10 reformers for the second year running for continues to increase the efficiency of its public services and cut bottlenecks in property registration, (reducing delays from six months to one), recorded greater efficiency at the company registry and the environment agency cut the time for business start-up to 42 days.
Also changes in the port authority's operations in Ghana sped up imports, while new civil procedure rules and mandatory arbitration and mediation reduced the time it takes to enforce contracts.
According to Mr. Oteng-Gyasi, it is necessary to keep these successes at that level and improve it further. "We must not be complacent but should also recognize the need to ensure that successful reforms are rolled out countrywide and avoid backsliding."
Mr. Oteng-Gyasi was speaking at the launch of Doing Business 2008, prepared by the World Bank and IFC.
The Report, which is compiled annually, compares a set of indicators ranking 178 countries on the ease of doing business by assessing government regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
This year, the 2008 report ranks Ghana as number three among reformers worldwide. In the overall Ease of Doing Business 2008 index, Ghana ranks 87th out of the 178 countries surveyed.
The AGI President said West Africa performance is not a good enough benchmark for Ghana. "It is better to compare with where we want to get to such as the Asia tigers and not our so called peers," he inferred.
He noted that Ghana deteriorated in ranking on employing workers: 131 to 138, due to the cost of firing and explained that it costs 178 weeks of wages to fire a worker in Ghana. "Getting rid of a worker is expensive. We must respond to changes in the market place."
Mr. Oteng-Gyasi said although access to credit has improved from 132 to 115 there is still room for improvement and suggested that the cost of credit should be looked at by the doing business team in future.
Ghana and Kenya both rank among the top 10 reformers worldwide this year and made the most significant advance in the aggregate ease of doing business rankings among countries in Africa. Last year, the 2007 report ranked Ghana as number one reformer in Africa and the 9th top reformer in the world. In the overall Ease of Doing Business 2007 index, Ghana ranked 94th out of the 175 countries surveyed.
"Such progress is sorely needed. African countries would greatly benefit from new enterprises and jobs, which can come with more business-friendly regulations," said Michael Klein, Vice President for Finance and Private Sector Development for World Bank-IFC and IFC Chief Economist.
He said the whole world is moving towards better business environment except Zimbabwe and Venezuela, saying that Ghana at 87th position is respectable but still a long way to go.
Mr. Klein said Ghana could look at further reducing time and procedures of starting a business and reduce time and permit approvals in dealing with licenses.
In order, the top 10 reformers globally including the two in Africa are namely, Egypt, Croatia, Ghana, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, China and Bulgaria.
A Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector and President Special Initiative, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said even as government justifiably takes credit for the progress made, it acknowledges the contribution of the private sector and development partners, who have constructively engaged in dialogue with government on the National Medium-term Private Sector Development Strategy.
He mentioned the Trade Policy, Public Sector Reform, Land Administration and the financial sector as some of the major reform programmes related to private sector development currently underway.
"It is important to situate these changes firmly within the context of the government's sustained commitment to enhancing the private sector's capacity to grow and compete more effectively."
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