ADDIS ABABA –Country’s push towards ensuring ease of doing business is progressing well with partners’ chemistry. For four months now efforts, which have been exerted by the national string committee that has been led by the prime minister to actualize ease of doing business, are bearing fruits, disclosed Ethiopian Investment Commission Commissioner Abebe Abebayehu in an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald . Each month plans outlined in short, medium and long term goals are examined by the committee.
Accordingly, the works that have been done over the past four months to advance the sector are laudable, he said. The World Bank report of 2019 ranked Ethiopia at 159th out of the world 190 countries. “The effort is to make the country among the world first suitable 100 countries in terms of doing businesses within two years.” According to him, the commission is working with stakeholders and especially with ethio-telecom, to upgrade the interconnectivity among the business sector parties via advanced mediums. The interconnectivity has been criticized by various business people and it would be advanced through time following the participation of the private sector in the area, he noted.
And the government is doing its level best to catalyze the privatizing task of ethio telecom in a short period of time, he stated. Currently, the country has a comparative stability than that of the condition last year. As to him, the government has strong commitment to control conflicts that may affect country’s peace and the business industry. There is keen initiation to ensure security in the long run so that it will help to bring peace and make foreign investors confident in making business here side by side the efforts in cutting complex bureaucracies, the commissioner underlined.
Ministry of Trade and Industry State Minister Eshete Asfaw noted that Ethiopia’s effort to improve its ease of doing business is timely and essential to improve its rank which is useful in penetrating the global market. According to him, through some African nations including Rwanda, Kenya and Egypt have better ranks; Ethiopia is on the 167th row of the list of 190 countries. “Our country has more than 11 steps or proceedings to start a business. The hassle takes over 30 days. However if we see the case in Rwanda four days are enough to get a business license.”
Today the nation is amending laws and shortening procedures to do away with the complex bureaucracy as part of the bid to advance ease of doing business. To this end, from business startup procedures the country has stricken out the prerequisite of providing documentation that detail’s about one’s business site, he stated. Similarly, the requisite of presenting house map and rent documents is also stricken out from the requirement.
In addition, trade associations are not coerced to get details about their establishments and naming published on newspapers, according to Eshete. On the other hand, the ministry would regulate contracts and certificates in one-stopshop service for shortening tax tin number and clearance service proceedings, he said. The ministry is also automating the licensing services within 1,134 stations across the country and 1,049 are already automated under the reform.
This would help to prevent wastage of time, money and energy so that the investors will manage start their business shortly, he underlined. Over the past four months, the string committee that comprised various stakeholders and led by the prime minister has been exerting efforts to improve ease of doing business in Ethiopia by thwarting the bureaucratic labyrinth in the process of getting credit, paying tax, licensing and trading among others, it was learnt.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition May 19, 2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
