An improved investment climate in Africa is a top priority for developing the private sector. The single, most substantial barrier to foreign and domestic investment in developing countries is the business operating environment, so the World Bank Group's Foreign Investment Advisory Service and IFC's Private Enterprise Partnership for Africa have teamed up to offer practical advice to African governments on how to improve their business and investment climates.
Since its establishment in 1985, FIAS has advised over 130 countries across the globe, through more than 700 projects.
Most investment climate programs begin with a request from a high-level government entity for FIAS-PEP Africa to conduct a diagnosis and propose solutions. The emphasis of proposed solutions is placed on leverage points that will result in rapid and effective change, provided the client government has the capacity and willingness to reform. IFC and the World Bank contribute some of the funding required to implement the solutions, while the balance is usually funded by governments and donors.
FIAS-PEP Africa's Six Main Diagnostic Services
Other FIAS-PEP Africa Product Lines
Implementing Solutions
As a result of FIAS-PEP Africa's work, the ranking of countries in Africa in IFC's annual Doing Business study has been improving in recent years. From among the worst performing regions in terms of reform processes and willingness to reform, Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole rose to the third best-performing continent in the 2006 survey.
FIAS-PEP Africa established its first "Doing Better Business" program in Burkina Faso in 2005 and is preparing to replicate the program in several other African countries. Other FIAS-PEP Africa initiatives include diagnostics (Seychelles), administrative barriers studies (Cape Verde, Eritrea, and Kenya), administrative and regulator cost surveys (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Uganda and Zambia), reviews of investment laws (Kenya and Sierra Leone), and taxation and incentives policy and implementation (Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe).
For further information contact:
James Emery or Nigel Twose
Investment and Business Climate Business Line
IFC PEP Africa
14 Fricker Road, Illovo, Johannesburg 2196
Telephone: +27 11 731 3000
