Nigeria was among the 10 economies showing the most notable improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list published on Tuesday.
It rose 24 places in the ranking of countries to 145th place. Nigeria this year introduced initiatives aimed at improving the business environment, such as new systems to speed up the processing of visas for executives.
Local and foreign business leaders have long complained that red tape, mismanagement and corruption have made it difficult to operate in Africa’s most populous country, which has the continent’s largest economy.
“Three Sub-Saharan African economies – Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia – made it to the list of 10 top improvers in 2016/17,” stated the report.
It said Nigeria made the process of starting a business faster by introducing the electronic approval of registration documents, improved access to credit information and introduced a centralized electronic system to pay federal taxes.
President Muhammadu Buhari said the report “reflects our efforts to make it easy for foreign business visitors to obtain visa on arrival, pass through our airports and do their businesses with ease and speed”. Read the full report here.