Dr. Adu Sarkodie, an Economist, has called for improved registration process for businesses to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The challenges businesses encounter in the country, he explained, can be better managed to competitively participate in the AfCFTA.
According to the Economist, the ease of conducting business can significantly improve once issues bordering on registration process, access to credit, and infrastructure development among others are given keen attention.
Dr. Sarkodie underscored the need for these tailbacks to be addressed as the advancement of the country’s economy is dependent on it.
With this, the Economist expressed optimism over the benefits inherent in resolving these issues.
“If you look at the doing business report, there are the issues of credit, electricity infrastructure, how cumbersome the registration process for a company or property, filing taxes and paying returns; all these things will make the economy competitive.
“So, if Ghana can position itself well by addressing some of these things that I have talked about: access to credit, infrastructure development, tax filling, payment and corporate taxes, ease of registering companies, etc; if Ghana can improve on all these things that I’ve mentioned, it will position us better to reap maximum benefits from the African Continental Free Trade Area which is good”.
Dr. Adu Sarkodie
The “Ease of Doing Business” report which basically provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle.
In 2020, the Ease of Doing Business by the World Bank for Ghana was 60 score. Ease of doing business of Ghana increased from 57 score in 2016 to 60 score in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 1.29%.
The World Bank also ranked Ghana at 118, representing a drop in four places in the previous year report.
Economies that score highest on the ease of doing business share several common features, including the widespread use of electronic systems. All of the 20 top-ranking economies have online business incorporation processes, have electronic tax filing platforms, and allow online procedures related to property transfers.
Business regulatory reforms across the Gulf economies have been on a steady rise. These changes are motivated in part by the urgent need for economic diversification. Successful reforms in neighboring states, such as the United Arab Emirates, have also served as inspiration. Saudi Arabia is the most improved economy in Doing Business 2020, with a total of eight reforms. With a reformist mindset, the crown prince has implemented and promoted a policy of featuring the Kingdom as an open world-class investment destination.
Although Doing Business does not capture corruption and bribery directly, inefficient regulation tends to go hand in hand with rent-seeking. There are ample opportunities for corruption in economies where excessive red tape and extensive interactions between private sector actors and regulatory agencies are necessary to get things done. The 20 worst-scoring economies on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index average 8 procedures to start a business and 15 to obtain a building permit.
