Creating

STARTING A BUSINESS 11
duced the minimum capital requirement to a tenth of
what it had been. Egypt centralized start-up in a single
building, where company charters, now submitted
electronically, are preapproved by the registry on the
spot. Registration is done in a day—but registration
fees increased by 80%. Saudi Arabia has started ambitious
reforms. Approvals by different ministries are
now centralized to speed registration. Time has already
fallen by a week, with more improvements expected by
the end of 2005. Yemen made it more difficult for new
businesses, by doubling the required capital to more
than $15,000. With annual incomes averaging $570,
there are few takers.
Africa largely didn’t reform. Only Côte d’Ivoire
made entry easier. Social security registration is now issued
on the spot, and the time for business start-up has
been cut by a fifth. The Democratic Republic of Congo
created a single access point. But hardly anyone knows
about it, and the registration center is empty. Other
countries went backwards. Kenya added a separate procedure
for paying stamp duty. Madagascar increased the
minimum capital requirement to $6,474, 22 times the
average annual income (table 2.2). This reform is easily
the worst of the year.
For the second year in a row the start-up gap between
rich and poor countries widened. Since 2003 rich
countries have made business start-up 33% faster on
average, cutting the time from 29 days to 19 (figure
2.3). They have cut the average cost by 26%, from 9%
of income per capita to 7%. Meanwhile, poor countries
have reduced the time required by only 10%, from 62
days to 56. The cost remains a staggering 113% of income
per capita, and the minimum paid-up capital 299% of income
per capita—10 times the level in OECD countries.
TABLE 2.2
Who regulates business start-up the least—and who the
most?
Procedures (number)
Fewest
Most
Afghanistan 1 Argentina 15
Australia 2 Bolivia 15
Canada 2 Greece 15
New Zealand 2 Guatemala 15
Denmark 3 Ukraine 15
Finland 3 Belarus 16
Sweden 3 Brazil 17
Belgium 4 Paraguay 17
Ireland 4 Uganda 17
Norway 4 Chad 19
Time (days)
Least
Most
Australia 2 Azerbaijan 115
Canada 3 Venezuela 116
Denmark 5 Angola 146
Iceland 5 Indonesia 151
United States 5 Brazil 152
Singapore 6 Mozambique 153
Afghanistan 7 Congo, Dem. Rep. 155
Puerto Rico 7 São Tomé and Príncipe 192
France 8 Lao PDR 198
Jamaica 9 Haiti 203
Cost (% of income per capita)
Least
Most
Denmark 0.0 West Bank and Gaza 275
New Zealand 0.2 Cambodia 276
United States 0.5 Rwanda 280
Sweden 0.7 Congo, Rep. 288
United Kingdom 0.7 Chad 360
Canada 0.9 Niger 465
Puerto Rico 1.0 Congo, Dem. Rep. 503
Singapore 1.1 Angola 642
Finland 1.2 Sierra Leone 835
France 1.2 Zimbabwe 1,442
Minimum capital requirement (% of income per capita, US$)
None (0%) Most % US$
46, including: Mauritania 878 3,686
Australia Timor-Leste 909 5,000
Botswana China 947 12,212
Canada Jordan 1,012 21,649
France Saudi Arabia 1,237 129,009
Nepal West Bank and Gaza 1,410 18,041
Thailand Ethiopia 1,532 1,685
Uganda Madagascar 2,158 6,474
United States Yemen 2,703 15,408
Vietnam Syria 5,112 60,832
Source: Doing Business database.