world bank country manager dr kapil kapoor has called on government to focus on more specific areas such as mining, livestock and tourism to make sure that its lead industries develop a true competitive edge in the region and globally.
This comes in the wake of Zambia been ranked among the top ten global reformers with a ten points improvements in its overall ease of doing business ranking for the year 2011.
Dr kapil explained that Zambia has done so well in a number of categories such as access to credit by this has to be narrowed down to the level where entrepreneurs have easy access to credit.
He however praised Zambia for being ranked among the top ten global reformers with a ten points improvements in its overall ease of doing business ranking stating that this shows that Zambia is committed to these reforms.
Dr kapil said the world bank stands ready to help the country with its reforms in the areas captured in the report stating that government must use this momentum to tackle broader and deeper investment climate reforms that will create more jobs and positively impact the livelihood of Zambians.
And commerce and trade minister Felix Mutati said Zambia will focus on addressing the four major constraints that the country is currently facing in terms of easing doing business for all entrepreneurs.
Mr. mutati explained that Zambia needs to address a number of challenges if it is to be ranked among the top three come next year.
He cited the aspect of issuance of construction permits, registering property which needs further simplification, constraints around trading at borders as well as the aspect of closing up of business.
According to the findings of doing business 2011, Zambia eased business start up by eliminating the minimum capital required and made easier by implementing a one stop border post with Zimbabwe, launching web-based submission of customs declarations, and introducing scanning machines at border post.
The other aspects included the introduction of an electronic referencing of cases, a database of law, real time court reporting, and public access to court records among others.
And chairman of the private sector development reform programme Mr. Evans Chibiliti said there is need to take strong measures that will ensure that these reforms move at a faster pace.
He also bemoaned that lack of implementation of most of the reforms in the country and has since called for concerted effort from stakeholders if Zambia is to move further in the ladder.
This year, doing business 2011 introduces new indicator-getting electricity; this and the employing workers indicators are not included in the ranking on the overall ease of doing business ranking.
Since 2005, about 85% of the world economies have made it easier for local entrepreneurs to operate through 1, 511 improvements to business regulation.
Among the 30 most improved economies during those five year, a third are in sub-Saharan africa-Bukina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, MOZAMBIQUE, Madagascar, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
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