Continuing in its assessment, the World Bank has determined that in order to obtain and register property, Namibia does much worse by ranking at 136th out of, again, 183 countries measured. To register property in Namibia, the Bank finds, it takes the completion of nine bureaucratic procedures that takes, on average, 23 days and costs 9.6-percent of the property’s financial value in fees and other costs to complete. This makes Namibia a moderately difficult place in which to register property.
Namibia does much better when it comes to obtaining credit, where it ranks 15th out of 183. Here, as depicted in Figure 2, the Bank examines the legal rights of creditors and borrowers in secured transactions and bankruptcy law as well as the strength of credit information bureaus and exchanges. When lenders have both strong legal rights and easy access to a wide variety of information about the client’s creditworthiness, reasons the Bank, the more available credit will be. When information on borrowers is significantly lacking – as is the case in most of Africa – legal protections for creditors must in turn be very strong. Namibia does admirably well here, though, as it has both very strong rights for creditors and there is a wide range of information available on potential borrowers.
Figure 2:
How the World Banks Conceptualizes Credit Acquisition
When it comes to protecting investors and minority shareholders, Namibia does less well, though still ranks much better than many countries in Africa. Here, the country ranks 74th out of 183 countries. It has received this score because Namibia requires moderate levels of conflict-of-interest disclosure by firm directors, has fairly strong laws that hold directors liable, and is a relatively easy place to bring a shareholder lawsuit.
Namibia unfortunately does less well in the area of taxation. The World Bank estimates that pleasing the tax man in Namibia requires a total of 37 payments over the course of a year which, in turn, takes up to 377 hours to complete and can consume up to 9.6-percent of a company’s profits. Accordingly, Namibia’s tax burden is ranked 99th out of 183 nations, placing it in the middle of the pack in this area.
When it comes to engaging in cross-border trade, however, Namibia also does poorly. In Namibia, to import goods into the country one is required to have nine documents for customs officials to inspect. On average, it takes a total of 24 days to import goods into Namibia with the cost amounting to $1,813 (excluding tariffs) per container shipped into the country.
The cost to export goods is roughly similar as Namibia requires 11 documents to be inspected by customs’ officials, while the total cost (excluding taxes) is $1,686 per container, with delivery taking up to 29 days from point of origin. Compared to global averages this nets Namibia a ranking of 153rd out of 183 on ease of engaging in cross-border trade.
Namibia does much better when it comes to contract enforcement, where it ranks 41st out of 183 countries ranked on this issue by the Bank. On average, reports World Bank analysts, it takes a total of 33 legal procedures to take a contract from dispute to resolution, at the cost of 270 days spent in court or otherwise attending to legal issues. The financial cost of pursing a contract claim, says the Bank, typically accounts for 35.3 percent of the value of the claim.
Finally, in terms of closing or liquidating a business Namibia ranks 53rd out of 183 countries. Here it takes 1.5 years to close an estate or enterprise at a total cost of 15-percent of its value with an average recovery rate of 41.5 cents on the dollar.
Table 1 presents a summary of these rankings as well as Namibia’s overall ease-of-doing business rating. All things considered, doing business in Namibia is much easier than in many places in Africa.
Starting a business, registering a business, and trading across borders are relatively difficult things to do, but in other areas the country shines. Obtaining credit, for instance, is particularly easy in the country while obtaining construction permits – often a nightmarish process in the rest of Africa – is simple and easy. Likewise contract enforcement is also relatively straightforward.
Table 1:
World Bank Ease of Doing Business
Assessment and Rankings: Namibia
With a population of just 2.2 million spread out across roughly 319,000 square miles, Namibia is in many ways just a series of small towns masquerading as a country. Its capital, Windhoek, has only 268,000 people while its primary port, Walvis Bay, has just 85,000. This is both good and bad when it comes to economic prospects.
