World Bank Ranks Ghana Top

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank has hailed Ghana as the global best reformer in improving access to credit. In its 2011 Report – Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs – the world body pledged its support for the government to implement investment – climate reforms that met the needs of the private sector and expanded business and created new economic opportunities for Ghanaians. “This singular accomplishment by President Mills’s team at the Central Bank has improved Ghana’s ease of doing business ranking and ensured that the country remains, overall, the easiest place to do business in the West African sub-region.,” it said. A letter signed by the Vice-President of the IFC, Mr. Thierry Tanoh, commending President John Evans Atta Mills, said, “Against the backdrop of a continuing global economic crisis, Ghana has maintained leadership in the sub-region for registering property and paying taxes. This is a noteworthy achievement.” The report noted that among the 30 most improved economies in the world over five years, a third were in sub-Saharan African, with six of them, including Ghana, in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A fundamental premise of the report is that sustained economic activity requires an accessible, efficient and predictable legal and regulatory environment. The letter said the reforms implemented to establish Africa’s centralized Collateral Registry and improve credit information and legal rights through the granting of an operating licence to a credit bureau provided immense opportunities for Ghana to progress further the deepening of its financial markets. The World Bank also lauded Ghana’s effort at supporting small and medium-size firms which created the majority of jobs and further praised the government’s business regulation reforms that made a difference.Additionally, the bank commended the Mills administration for automating and streamlining procedures, improving access to information, increasing the efficiency of courts and establishing transparent processes that made compliance easier and less costly, while limiting opportunities for corruption. “At the IFC, we look forward to continuing our efforts to support your government in implementing investment-climate reforms that meet the needs of the private sector to expand business and create new economic opportunities for Ghanaians,” the letter said.