Rebuilding Business and Investment in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone’s devastating 11-year civil war destroyed much of its infrastructure, and left its economy in tatters. In 2004, two years after the end of the war, Sierra Leone asked the investment climate (IC) advisory services of the World Bank Grou...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/418921501149124716/Rebuilding-business-and-investment-in-post-conflict-Sierra-Leone-how-the-World-Bank-Group-s-program-removing-administrative-barriers-to-investment-helped-build-a-regulatory-framework http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28421 |
| Summary: | Sierra Leone’s devastating 11-year civil
war destroyed much of its infrastructure, and left its
economy in tatters. In 2004, two years after the end of the
war, Sierra Leone asked the investment climate (IC) advisory
services of the World Bank Group to help create a better
business and investment climate that will lay a foundation
for the country’s future economic growth. Answering the
call, the World Bank Group’s IC advisory services partnered
with the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Department for
International Development (DFID) to design a program to help
Sierra Leone improve its business climate, encourage job
creation, and spur investment. The result of this
partnership was the removing administrative barriers to
investment (RABI) program, which ran from 2004 to 2010. RABI
pioneered a collaborative approach by working closely with
the government, local institutions, and the private sector
to implement a comprehensive, integrated agenda that focused
on reforms in the following four areas: reducing barriers to
businesses operating in the formal sector by simplifying new
business registration.; streamlining tax administration,
reforming tax policy, and supporting the national revenue
authority to simplify taxes; creating a platform for
effective and constructive dialogue between the government
and the private sector in focal areas such as financial
sector reform, access to land, and overall improvements in
the investment climate, and supporting reform in those
areas; and building and developing an effective investment
and trade facilitation structure and promoting Sierra Leone
as a vibrant and desirable location for business, especially
in the tourism and agribusiness sectors. The RABI program
was innovative and responsive, conducting rapid diagnostics,
proposing integrated solutions, and moving quickly into
implementation with support staff on the ground. The program
was also one of the first of its kind to operate in a
conflict-affected country, which demand specialized and
targeted support solutions. |
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