Mozambique falls 5 places in ‘Doing Business 2016’ rankings

Mozambique fell five places in “Doing Business 2016” compared to last year’s ranking, going from 128th to 133rd in the publication by the World Bank, launched on Oct. 27 in Washington. Entitled “Measuring the Quality and Efficiency of Regulatory Framework”, the paper analyzes the changes in the legal and regulatory framework affecting 11 areas of business interest in 189 countries.

Singapore came first, followed by New Zealand and Denmark. For the sub-Saharan Africa region, Mozambique occupies the 14th position out of 47 countries.

According to the publication, several factors led to the fall of Mozambique in the ranking, including the poor performance of the country with regard to opening businesses, poor access to credit and a lack of protection for minority investors. The report indicates that Mozambique has made no reforms over the past year.

The best performance of the country concerned obtaining licenses, which rose six places, from 37th to 31st. Another positive factor of Mozambique is the production of electricity, in which the country rose two places, moving from 166th position to 164th. Commenting on the particular case of Mozambique, the World Bank says that the country has improved tax payments for companies through the implementation of an online system for submitting contributions to social security to the National Social Security Institute (INSS).

In general, the report states that sub-Saharan Africa’s economies had made the most progress in terms of the ease of doing business. “The economies of sub-Saharan Africa continue to implement reforms to improve the business environment for domestic entrepreneurs, with members of the Organization for the Harmonization in Africa of Business Law (OHADA) particularly active during the past year,” said the World Bank’s press release.