-Rwanda, Morocco, Mauritius, and seven other African countries emerged as the continent’s top performers in the 2025 World Bank business environment rankings, demonstrating notable progress in regulatory reforms, operational efficiency, and governance.
-The 2025 World Bank business environment rankings highlight Rwanda, Morocco, Mauritius, and others as top African performers.
-Rwanda is the sole African country in the first quintile, excelling in Operational Efficiency at a global level.
-Morocco and Mauritius also achieve impressive rankings due to their strong Regulatory Frameworks and operational competence.
-Public service delivery remains a challenge in many African nations, despite their progress in regulatory reforms.
B‑READY 2025 builds on the previous 2024 edition, which covered 50 economies, and draws on insights from nearly 5,000 local respondents, including legal experts and sector specialists. The framework tracks the life cycle of a firm and is designed to guide reforms that improve investment, innovation, and job creation.
The report, which evaluated 101 economies globally, ranks countries based on three key pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. Each country’s performance is measured numerically for each pillar, and nations are grouped into quintiles, with the first quintile representing the top performers globally.
African nations in the top 10 largely rank in the third quintile, with Rwanda standing out as the continent’s only first-quintile performer, particularly excelling in Operational Efficiency. Other leaders, including Morocco and Mauritius, score highly on Regulatory Frameworks, reflecting strong policies and legal structures that support business activity.
The ranking system allows readers to understand not just which countries perform best, but also how scores in each pillar (Regulation, Services, and Efficiency) combine to determine overall business readiness, highlighting both strengths and gaps in Africa’s business environment.
How Africa Performed
Rwanda has maintained its winning streak, standing out as Africa’s only first-quintile performer, with 71.47 points in Operational Efficiency, placing it alongside high-income economies such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
In the 2024 World Bank B‑READY report, Rwanda also topped Africa, excelling across regulatory frameworks, public services, and operational efficiency, reinforcing its reputation as the continent’s most business-ready economy.
This reflects Rwanda’s success in creating a business-friendly environment, attracting investment, and driving economic growth. With high scores in all categories, Rwanda leads Africa as a model for economic reform and development.
Morocco, meanwhile, leads on Regulatory Framework with a score of 70.06, reflecting strong legal and policy structures supporting business creation and market competition. Mauritius also features prominently, ranking in the top three quintiles for operational efficiency and public service delivery.
Other top African performers include Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Togo, Mali, and Botswana, all of which rank in the third quintile globally for regulatory quality or operational efficiency.
While these countries demonstrate solid progress in regulatory reforms, the report notes that public service delivery remains a key constraint across the continent. Many African economies continue to lag behind global peers, particularly in operational efficiency and public services, which are closely linked to GDP per capita.
The B‑READY findings show that targeted reforms can drive meaningful improvements, even for lower-income economies. Countries that combine strong regulations with operational effectiveness like Rwanda and Morocco, are better positioned to attract investment, create jobs, and foster sustainable growth.
For the continent, the report highlights a clear message: regulatory progress is tangible, but success ultimately depends on translating policies into effective services.
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