World Bank released its 2019 Doing Business Index (DBI) yesterday, reporting an improvement in Nigeria’s ease of doing business as the country moved from 51.52 to 52.89.
The report is themed: ‘Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform’.
According to the report, Nigeria carried out four reforms which included making starting a business easier in Kano and Lagos, the two cities covered by Doing Business. Getting electricity and trading across borders also saw reforms in the two cities.
The measures in the report released yesterday said Nigeria scored 52.89 higher than 51.52 which it scored in the 2017 report as it made improvements in ease of starting a business, getting electricity, trading across borders and enforcing contracts, ranking 146 out of 190 countries.
Nigeria was ranked 145 in the 2017 report, however, this year, the country score went up by 1.37. “In addition, Lagos made Enforcing Contracts easier by issuing new rules of civil procedure for small claims courts, while Kano, in a negative move, made property registration less transparent by no longer publishing online the fee schedule and list of documents necessary to transfer a property,” the report read in part.
Nigeria made starting a business easier by introducing an online platform to pay stamp duties. Also, it reduced the time needed to register a company at the corporate affairs commission and introducing an online platform to pay stamp duty. Read more
