Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Good Governance Africa (GGA), a research and advocacy body working to improve governance on the continent, Wednesday released a statement, saying unreliable or insufficient electricity, corruption and difficulty in getting bank loans are the three biggest constraints to doing business in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the statement, this was disclosed in the ”Africa Survey 2014” released recently by GGA in South Africa.
The Africa Survey is a comprehensive annual collection of social, political and economic indicators for the continent’s 55 countries, compiled from a wide range of sources, including the World Bank.
According to the statement, more than 45% of firms in sub-Saharan Africa said the lack of reliable electricity was a major problem.
”More than half of firms in Gambia (54%), Guinea (64%) and Nigeria (64%) said it was the single biggest obstacle to their business,” the statement noted.
”Firms in sub-Saharan Africa also cited getting a bank loan (42%) and corruption (43%) as major obstacles to doing business. Only in Angola did the largest number of firms (29%) identify corruption as the single greatest constraint to business. More than 40% of companies in Côte d’Ivoire (45%), Malawi (46%), Mali (44%) and Zimbabwe (47%) cited getting credit as the single biggest obstacle to business.”
Quoting from ”World Bank’s 2015 Ease of Doing Business Index”, GGA said only three African countries are ranked among the world’s top 50: Mauritius (28), South Africa (43) and Rwanda (46). Of the 50 lowest ranked countries, 30 are African.
“It is still tougher to run a business in many African countries than elsewhere,” remarked Karen Hasse, a GGA researcher.
“Improving electricity supply and access to loans and wiping out corruption would encourage entrepreneurship and allow companies to expand their operations. This in turn would produce many benefits, among them greater employment and tax revenues for African governments,” Karen concluded.
