Although there are challenges to commercially viable investment in Sierra Leone, the country offers significant investment potential across a myriad of sectors. Blaming slavery or colonialism or debt or oil prices or globalization or war or human nature will not get us very far. In particular, two of the governments recent priority initiatives supported by TBI demonstrate how Sierra Leone has used technology, data and innovation to both deliver on a key presidential priority and respond to Covid-19. The public sector, in turn, has a direct interest in promoting the enterprises that create jobs, pay taxes and spur development. Increase police and military training in mediation and grievance management; While these issues do not necessarily reflect any discriminatory treatment of U.S. interests, they do underscore the challenges facing all foreign firms operating in Sierra Leone. In addition, the international development community - including the World Bank, African and Islamic Development Banks, UNDP, the EU, etc. (February 28, 2021). Businesses have an economic interest in and derive benefits from investing in democracy. Measures on credit information sharing and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders are shown below. At the 2019 Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit, President Bio stated: Our country defines human capital development in terms of equal and free access to quality education that also involves skills training and innovation. Donor staff visiting Sierra Leone come to work with local agencies and sometimes fail to understand the very real constraints to efficiency and productivity facing executing agencies who struggle with erratic electric supplies; a lack of running water; power surges that wipe out hard drives despite voltage regulators; the effects of malaria and other illnesses on staff and their families; the difficulties of staff who must work and write in a foreign language; the high cost of vehicle maintenance caused by terrible roads and, consequently, expect too few staff to do too much work in too little time. Specifically in the case of Sierra Leone, the private sector could: Approach district councils and propose establishment of Public-Private Partnership Committees that would systematically seek areas where common efforts will help generate private and public sector wealth by strengthening the architecture of democratic governance - legal, regulatory and customary. A procedure is any interaction of the companys employees or managers with external parties. Among our successes, we have: completed the preparation of a Poverty Reduction Strategy in line with the World Bank PRSP process; Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health was able to draw on the country's past experience with Ebola in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. Very limited organizational and management capacity in government and very low civil servant salaries that contribute to low motivation, corruption and a driving out of the best talent; Behind this description of a government that gradually fell into greater and greater difficulties are several underlying factors that probably will be familiar to other governments that have faced similar challenges. Sierra Leone offers opportunities for investment. Several donors are better able to deliver infrastructure (school buildings; clinic buildings; road upgrading) than to help us ensure that the infrastructure will be sustainable by supporting activities inside those buildings that will improve the quality of education, the quality of health care delivery, etc. INTRODUCTION. | Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economys income per capita. The report cited the continued disaffection among youth, the lack of accountability in public institutions and recommended efforts to induce attitudinal changes towards a politics of accountability. The report then urged that initiatives be launched to strengthen capacities for conflict transformation. The inadequacies in these intangible areas go to the heart of the problem of how to build - some would say rebuild - social capital, including trust between government and the governed and a greater willingness among individuals to pull together and to value personal integrity and the common good. Only official costs required by law are recorded. Investments outside of the capital city require special attention to local community needs, particularly land issues that are subject to the influence and authority of traditional leaders. The recovery rate, expressed in terms of how many cents on the dollar claimants recover from the insolvent firm, is also shown. The total number of procedures required for married women to register a firm. Governments all over the world are increasingly relying on data, technology and innovation not only to build their economies and sustain the social fabric of society, but also in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is also no clear agreement on which countries fit this category. Support should be based on what is needed and not what the donor wishes to provide. The postfiling index is based on four componentstime to comply with VAT refund, time to obtain VAT refund, time to comply with a corporate income tax correction and time to complete a corporate income tax correction. We are proud to be able to continue to provide strategic and advisory support to the Government of Sierra Leone, and to support the strengthening of systems and coordination mechanisms in its journey to improve service delivery. Their support is essential for our development. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. Very low literacy rates that inhibit participation; Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. 1401 Constitution Ave NW The quality of land administration index has five dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. Despite this promising start, government - and the country as a whole - found itself in increasing difficulties through the 1960s to 1980s. Download profile. "Ease of Doing Business in Sierra Leone in 2020, by Topic. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. The extent of disclosure index measures the approval and disclosure requirements of related-party transactions. Sierra Leone has come a long way since the civil war it experienced between 1991 and 2002. We supported the harmonisation of data on travellers in quarantine and contact tracing, ensuring that symptomatic contacts were tested in a timely manner and that all those in quarantine were tested before discharge at the end of the 14-day period. The economy has potential in five main areas: agriculture, fisheries, mining, tourism, and small-scale manufacturing. . The UN Inter-Agency report and recent academic studies such as William Easterlys The Elusive Quest for Growth, suggest that strong national and local institutions are key to reconciliation and sustainable development. It is also GPS-capable to ensure monitoring officers are collecting data from legitimate quarantine locations. There is no question that the ECOWAS intervention and the subsequent international effort through UNAMSIL were critical to the restoration of order. In 1960 there were 25 countries listed as being in the so-called Fourth World and of these only two have since grown out of this category: Egypt with massive American aid and Botswana. In 1991, when armed guerrillas crossed the border from Liberia, the fragile nature of Sierra Leonean institutions became apparent. I should now turn to the final question put to me which is whether or how the private sector can help address the issues we are considering. The World Bank ranked Sierra Leone 148th among 190 countries in 2017 for the ease of doing business, identifying particular challenges in getting electricity, registering property, and trading across borders. As soon as this statistic is updated, you will immediately be notified via e-mail. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. I am also an ambassador to end Educational Inequity in Sierra Leone, and currently assist children in rural Sierra Leone get quality education. In response, since 2018 the Government of Sierra Leone has allocated more than 20 per cent of the national budget to education, and President Julius Maada Bio has announced that Human Capital Development (HCD) is the priority of his administration and a key driver in Sierra Leone meeting the UNs Sustainable Development Goals. The total number of procedures required for married men to register a firm. 42% of Sierra Leone's population is age 15 or under. The World Bank highlighted challenges in access to credit, resolving insolvency, access to electricity and construction permits, but noted improvements in payment of taxes, cross-border trade and starting a business. INVESTING IN SIERRA LEONE. The customs clearance procedure was simplified to reduce clearance time and the major seaport extended to accommodate more vessels. Doing business in Sierra Leone is fraught with problems. ", Largest Canadian companies 2023, by market capitalization, Ease of doing business in Canada 2020, by topic, Number of employer businesses in Canada 2022, by industry, Fastest growing startups in Canada, by two-year revenue growth 2020. The message of the brand is delivered to the audience across a variety of touchpoints which include: Social media profiles . Any business looking at expanding their market will face many challenges. Given the number of mistakes made by donors over the past 40 years, one would think there would be greater tolerance for different approaches if there is a local consensus of views that varies from a dominant and sometimes momentary intellectual consensus. Registering a new company in Sierra Leone is done through the Corporate Affairs Commission Setting up a business in Sierra Leone. More recently, a UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office report found that only 12 per cent of junior secondary-school students across Sierra Leone score passing grades in English and maths. Cost is recorded as a percentage of the property value, assumed to be equivalent to 50 times income per capita. World Bank Doing Business 2020 ranks Uganda 12th in Sub-Saharan Africa. While some of my comments may also apply to other governments in difficulty, I will be talking today specifically about the Sierra Leone experience since it is the one I know best and it offers a case study of government and social collapse into civil war followed by a remarkable joint national-international effort to end the conflict, build peace and regain the confidence of a badly traumatized people in their national institutions and leadership. Note:If an economy does not levy any taxes, the set of indicators in Paying Taxes are recorded as no practice. Disclaimer: If an economy had zero insolvency cases a year over the past five years involving a judicial reorganization, judicial liquidation or debt enforcement procedure (foreclosure or receivership), the economy receives a no practice mark on the time, cost and outcome indicators. He wrote about the Restless young people he works with ahead of International Youth Day 2019. I would like to commend especially the UNHCR and the World Food Programme for their massive effort to address the acute needs of our refugee and internally displaced populations during and immediately after the war. OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES. I have been asked to address three questions: First, to explain what is meant by a government in difficulty;, Second, to comment on external efforts to lessen or resolve such difficulties with respect to their impact, their benefits and limits, and any gaps; and. decentralized governance and are devolving some power and resources to the district councils to broaden participation in governance; The ranking complements the ease of doing business score by providing information about an economys performance in business regulation relative to the performance of other economies as measured by Doing Business. But each has certainly played its part in crafting our current reality. This index measures rules and practices affecting the coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information available through either a credit registry or a credit bureau. I have tried to give you the perspective of a government that freely admits to the terrible errors of past governments and its own weak policies while also taking credit for its role in the achievements of the past few years. Sorry, an error occured during your newsletter subscription. The Education Innovation Challenge (EIC) was launched in June 2019 in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Educations Teaching Service Commission. In 2020, the World Bank ranked the country 58 out of 190 countries with a 91 percent score for easing the process of starting a business, one of ten indicators used in evaluating the business climate. International Trade Administration Sierra Leone is ranked 30th among 47 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and its . Create a National Centre for Conflict Transformation that would have a strong training role; and When faced with the collapse of security, many traditional donors refuse all assistance to non-lethal military needs, police or prisons. Foreign Direct Investment Attraction Events, Services for U.S. Companies New to Exporting, Services for U.S. Companies Currently Exporting, Leading Sectors for US Exports & Investments. The recovery rate for no practice economies is zero. Whilst its strength is traditionally recognised as being in its mineral reserves, the country is rich in other natural resources, including agriculture and fisheries. The building quality control index is based on six other indicesthe quality of building regulations, quality control before construction, quality control during construction, quality control after construction, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certifications indices. Editors Note: This article was first published in May 2007. Very high poverty rates placing the country for many years at the bottom of the UN Human Development Index; It is much easier to recount and analyse the experiences of the past and to comment on the performance of external actors than it is to find specific solutions that work. The World Bank ranked Sierra Leone 163 among 190 countries in 2020 Doing Business Report, a drop from 140 in 2015. addressed the HIV/AIDS crisis by establishing a National AIDS Secretariat and funded AIDS projects with World Bank assistance; There is much that we still do not know about the complex inter-play between the many factors that make London rich and Freetown poor; that give most of you at this Conference a life expectancy more than double that of most of my fellow citizens. In addition, teacher training encompasses all the selected innovations. The total tax rate measures the amount of taxes and mandatory contributions payable by the business in the second year of operation, expressed as a share of commercial profits. Accessed March 05, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1244779/ease-of-doing-business-in-sierra-leone-by-topic/, International Economics. The very term that best describes the system of most developed countries, democratic capitalism, acknowledges that democracy and business are inextricably linked in what should be a complementary effort to generate wealth and ensure social harmony. Furthermore, Sierra Leone exports far fewer goods and services (26.1% of GDP) than other countries in the region, such as Guinea (37.1%), Ghana . Poor quality and limited infrastructure pose major challenges to investment, domestic travel, inland transport, and normal operations. Ease of Doing Business in Sierra Leone averaged 150 from 2008 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 163 in 2018 and a record low of 137 in 2012. The widowed . (In the Sierra Leone context, some areas do not have internet connectivity, so offline functionality was incorporated with that in mind.) You have successfully subscribed. The donor task managers goal too often seems to be to satisfy every bureaucratic requirement no matter how petty even if it confounds common sense and undermines project goals. I must also cite the work of UNICEF and several NGOs who have had such a positive impact on our children, including child soldiers; amputees; rape victims and other traumatized groups. Facebook . LEWAF's objective is to eradicate gender-based violence . OMA Group offers ship agency, logistics and energy support services throughout the Sub-Saharan Africa. One key to rebuilding social capital may be to point out that government, in fact, is not one coherent entity but a collection of individuals with different interests often representing different group interests. These recommendations may be used to design brief and skill-targeted SEL activities and guide implementation in humanitarian settings like Sierra Leone. Some service providers had to develop pre-recorded learning materials that were uploaded to memory cards and distributed in communities they worked in, alongside compatible rechargeable devices for playing the recorded messages. Through our recovery policies, helped increase per capita GDP by 18% in 2001; 27.5% in 2002 and an as yet unconfirmed rate for 2003 and 2004 of at least 10%. Accessible and Quality Education is the flagship initiative of his administration; as part of this initiative, the Free Quality School Education programme was introduced to ensure every child gets an education, irrespective of their background and status. In, International Economics. The World Bank ranked Sierra Leone 163 among 190 countries in 2020 Doing Business Report, a drop from 140 in 2015. Doing Business in Sierra Leone - World Bank Group. Doing business in Sierra Leone is difficult but overcoming the challenges is not impossible, says Nikolai Germann, managing director of Addax Bioenergy in Ernst & Young's 2011 Afri. 1. The total number of days required to register property. Sierra Leone AFP. In this challenging context, the need to apply Ebola's lessons to recovery is clear. DB 2020 Dealing with Construction Permits Score, DB 2020 Protecting Minority Investors Score, Details Starting a business in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Figure Starting a business in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Figure Starting a business in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Dealing with construction permits in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Details Dealing with construction permits in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Dealing with construction permits in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Figure Dealing with construction permits in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Getting electricity in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Details Getting electricity in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Getting electricity in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Figure Getting electricity in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Registering property in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Details Registering property in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Registering property in Sierra Leone Procedures, time and cost, Figure Registering property in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Credit information in Sierra Leone, Figure Getting credit in Sierra Leone Score (0-100), Details Protecting Minority Investors in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Protecting Minority Investors in Sierra Leone Score (0-100), Details Paying taxes in Sierra Leone - Tax by type, Details Paying taxes in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Paying taxes in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Trading across borders in Sierra Leone Components of border compliance, Details Trading across borders in Sierra Leone Trade documents, Details Trading across borders in Sierra Leone Domestic transport, Figure Trading across borders in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Enforcing contracts in Sierra Leone, Details Enforcing contracts in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Enforcing contracts in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), Details Resolving insolvency in Sierra Leone, Details Resolving insolvency in Sierra Leone Measure of quality, Figure Resolving insolvency in Sierra Leone Scores (0-100), http://www.doingbusiness.org/en/methodology. The total number of taxes and contributions paid, the method of payment, the frequency of payment, the frequency of filing and the number of agencies involved for the standardized case study company during the second year of operation. Fortunately, UNDP and DfID helped in these areas but many donors are being unrealistic when they ban all aid related to security. Donors need to be more flexible, less paternalistic, less directive and listen more to the experiences of those who live and work daily on development issues in the countries they visit. A hierarchical agrarian society characterized by low productivity; Why would any government deliberately choose policies that stifle growth and risk conflict? It ranges from 0-8, with higher values indicating that more credit information is available from a public registry or private bureau. A better approach would be to gradually introduce technology while phasing out the traditional method. Over the years, Sierra Leone has made significant reforms in easing the process of setting up a business, including establishing a one-stop shop for company registration. By. Enforcing Contracts measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local first-instance court and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and efficiency in the court system. Sierra Leone was then, and is today, a religiously plural, multi-ethnic society with 13 principal ethnic groups. To start a business in Argentina, 12 procedures are required, taking 11.5 days on average.