Namibia loses its competitive edge

Namibia''s plan to become Africa''s most competitive economy by 2020 took a hit this week, with the latest Doing Business report showing that the country has dropped seven places in the overall ranking.

Namibia dropped from 101st place in last year''s edition to 109th spot in the 2017 Doing Business report, which ranks business efficiency in 190 countries. Namibia is at 11th place among African countries, compared to ninth position a year ago. Mauritius, 49th in the overall ranking, is the current top competitor in Africa. Kenya and Lesotho overtook Namibia this year.

“The fall by seven places does not augur well for Namibia''s hopes of meeting the Harambee target of being the top African country in the rankings by 2020,” said the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). IPPR director Graham Hopwood said the government should take the report seriously, noting that it is “more objective than some of the other perception-based surveys about the Namibian business climate.” He said the report is based on actual experience of how long various business procedures take in the country.

“The single window for business services has been on government''s policy agenda for ten years, yet we are still only talking about introducing the first phase in 2018. In order to see a quicker turnaround in Namibia''s ranking this target should be moved forwards,” he said.

He explained that a “single window”, which reduces the number of procedures in obtaining various permissions and licences, would go a long way towards improving Namibia''s performance in this ranking.

The annual Doing Business report sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations.





The survey also measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a business, the categories of which are used to produce the overall ranking.

One of the areas in which Namibia received low scores is the first category: the ease of starting a business.

Namibia scored 170th out of 190 countries in this category, one of its worst rankings in the report.

The report states that starting a business in Namibia takes 66 days and requires on average 10 procedures.

Another blow for the country''s overall performance is the 174th ranking on the ease of registering property. The data collected indicated that registering a property requires eight procedures, takes 52 days and costs 13.8% of the property value.

Categories in which Namibia received higher scores include the ease of getting credit, construction permits and paying taxes.

Globally, Namibia achieved 62th place for ease of obtaining credit, 74th place for paying taxes, and 67th for obtaining construction permits.

Ease of trading across borders placed the country at 127th place, enforcing contracts at 98th and resolving insolvency at 97th place.

Protecting minority investors put Namibia 81st in the global ranking.

The annual Doing Business report, now in its 14th year, investigates regulations that enhance business activities and those that constrain it.

The coveted top spot this year was awarded to New Zealand, with Singapore in second place and Denmark in third.