Nigeria rated the 101st best country to do business in the world! Drops from 87th Position

Nigeria has been rated the 101st best country to do business in the world, a significant drop from the 87th position it occupied last year, national newspaper, according to local newspapers here. Ahead of Nigeria from the African continent were South Africa — which ranked 40th, followed by Zambia (56th), Namibia (71th), Ghana (72th), Mozambique (77th), Morocco (83rd), Malawi (86th), Egypt (92nd), Senegal (96th), and Madagascar (98th).

The report, which listed 134 countries in order of their suitability for investment, was published on Forbes website. It put Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product growth at 8.4 per cent, representing US$2,500 GDP per capita and the trade balance percentage of GDP at 10.1, over an average population of 155.2 million. The public debt was put at 11.9 per cent of the GDP. According to a further breakdown of the analysis, Nigeria ranked 121st for trade freedom; 84th for monetary freedom; 117th for property rights; 66th for innovation; 100th for technology; 85th for red tape; 46th for investor protection; 110th for corruption; 84th for personal freedom; 97th for tax burden and 71st for market performance. At the top of the list was Canada, with a GDP growth of 3.1 per cent at US$39,400 GDP per capita; New Zealand, with a GDP growth of 1.5 per cent at US$27,700 GDP per capita; Hong Kong, with a GDP growth of 6.8 per cent at US$,900 GDP per capita; Ireland, with a GDP growth of -1.0 at US$37,300 GDP per capital; and Denmark, with a GDP growth of 2.1 at $36,600 GDP per capita, occupied the first, second, third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.



At the bottom of the list of 134 countries are Venezuela, Angola, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Chad, at 130th, 131st, 132nd, 133rd and 134th positions, respectively. The report pointed out that infrastructure was a major impediment to economic growth, adding that Nigeria’s economy was badly hit by the recent financial and economic crises. According to the report, “Oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure and poor macroeconomic management but in 2008 began pursuing economic reforms. It said: “Nigeria’s former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from its over-dependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 80% of budgetary revenues.” Proving the credibility of the rating, Kurt Badenhausen, a Forbes representative, said, “We determined the best countries for business by looking at 11 different factors for 134 countries. We considered property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. “We leaned on research and published reports from the Central Intelligence Agency, Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, the World Bank and World Economic Forum to compile the rankings.”