Nigeria has moved up by 15 places to 131 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking from the 146th position it was in 2018.
According to the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 study, governments of 115 economies around the world launched 294 reforms over the past year.
The report explained that this made doing business easier for the domestic private sector in the countries, paving the way for more jobs, expanded commercial activity, and higher incomes for many.
World Bank President, David Malpass, said governments can foster market-oriented development and broad-based growth by creating rules that help businesses launch, hire, and expand adding that removing barriers facing entrepreneurs generates better jobs, more tax revenues, and higher incomes, all of which were necessary to reduce poverty and raise living standards.
Meanwhile, China and India made the top 10 list of governments that have done the most in the past year to improve the ease of doing business in their countries.
China made the top 10 list for the second year in a row, despite a bitter trade war in which the United States has demanded reforms from Beijing to protect intellectual property and open its economy further to American businesses.
The Asian country leapfrogged France to take the 31st spot in the ranking, also moving up 15 places just as Nigeria while India, on the other hand, landed on the most-improved list for the third year in a row, moving up by 14 places to number 63 in the global rankings.
The report noted that the country made it easier to start a business by abolishing filing fees, lowering the time and cost of seeking construction permits and making trade easier with port improvements and an improved electronic platform for submitting documents.
The other seven economies where business climates improved the most were Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Togo, Bahrain, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Kuwait.
New Zealand continues to top the global rankings, while Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Korea are right behind with the United States, Georgia, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden completing the top 10 list.