In its yearly publication released on 24th October 2019, the World Bank ranked Mauritius at the 13th position out of 190 countries assessed; its best ranking ever since the publication of the report in 2007. At the same time, Mauritius consolidates its lead position in the African continent as the best place for doing business. This performance represents a notable leap of 36 places within a span of just 3 years.
According to the World Bank, “Research demonstrates a causal relationship between economic freedom and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, where freedom regarding wages and prices, property rights, and licensing requirements leads to economic development”. The Government in Mauritius has laid strong emphasis on providing a conducive business environment to the investor community.
With a Distance-To-Frontier (DTF) score of 81.5, the country crossed the bar of 80 score points for the first time and closing the gap with the best performing economies.
This achievement is the result of the numerous reforms initiated since 2015, across the 10 indicators measured by the report which covers the complete lifecycle of a business. The reform agenda, championed by the Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development with the support of an inter-ministerial committee and several technical working groups, led to deep regulatory changes and administrative improvements in the doing business ecosystem of Mauritius, including the enactment of the Business Facilitation Act 2017 and the Business Facilitation Act 2019.
The implementation of the National Electronic Licensing System (NELS), co-funded by the European Union, with the objective of developing a single electronic window for business licensing, has also been a major contributor in this achievement of Mauritius, particularly in the area of construction permitting where Mauritius is ranked 8th globally.
Mauritius also climbs to the 5th position with a score of 94% in the ease of paying taxes indicator, owing to the sustained reforms implemented by the Mauritius Revenue Authority.
With reforms implemented by the Central Electricity Board over the last 3 years, Mauritius jumped from the 110th position in 2017 to the 28th position with a score of 88%.
Mauritius moved from the 99th position in 2017 to the 23rd position in the Registering Property indicator, following streamlining of the property registration process and improvements in the Mauritius e-Registry System (MERS).
Likewise, Mauritius has improved in other indicators including Starting a Business, Resolving Insolvency and Enforcing Contract.
Whilst this year’s ranking represents a new milestone achieved by the country, the Economic Development Board, with the support of Government, has already laid the pathway to further improve the doing business climate of Mauritius. Major projects such as the National Electronic Licensing System (NELS), the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Framework, Secured Transactions Reforms, Judicial reforms on commercial matters, reforms on procurement and a major Regulatory Review are strides towards a more conducive business environment.
For more information, we invite you to download the full Doing Business Report 2020 and the Economic profile of Mauritius: https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/country/m/mauritius/MUS.pdf