RDB explains Rwanda's drop in World Bank Doing Business report

The Rwandan Government has expressed concerns over the sudden change in the methodology used to measure the ease of doing business in the just-released Annual World Bank Doing Business report.

Though the country ranked second after Mauritius on the continental level, it dropped 9 places in its Global Ranking.

In the 2020 World Bank Doing Business Report, Rwanda was position 38 in the global ranking with a score of 76.5 points, down from position 29 last year.

The decline has been attributed to a change in the methodology used by the World Bank to measure the ease of doing business in 190 countries.

According to Louise Kanyonga, the Chief Strategy and Compliance officer at the Rwanda Development Board, the report has been received with mixed feelings.

The new methodology which was added in the protecting minority shareholders indicator introduced an assessment of a vibrant stock market, which according to the World Bank, has to have at least 10 companies listed and trading equities.

The sudden methodology change led to a-one-hundred-point drop in the indicator scores from 14^th place last year to the 114^th-position this year.

Kanyonga said that though much has been done to build up the stock market arena in the country, more effort in this area is still required.

Rwanda Stock Exchange, which was officially launched in 2011, has 8 listed companies; 3 local companies and 5 others from the region.

According to Celestin Rwabukumba, Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Stock Exchange, the World Bank Report comes as a wake-up call to all the stakeholders involved, to implement the policies and strategies already in place to have a more vibrant stock market.

On the brighter side, Rwanda did exceptionally well on a number of indicators including the starting-a-business indicator where the country leaped from 51^st position to the 35^th position globally, as well as the construction permits indicator where Rwanda went up by 25 points to land on position 81 up from position 106 globally.

Dr. Rita Ramahlo, World Bank Senior Manager, presenting this year’s report, specifically on Rwanda’s performance. Rwanda maintained its 2nd position as the easiest place to do business in Africa. The World Bank assessed 190 countries using 10 indicators in business regulations. Photo/RDB.