Invest Benin

completed

Benin Invest will take stock of Benin's past efforts to improve its business environment and carry forward select activities necessary to improve critical elements of it: Starting a Business, Issuing and Managing Construction Permits, and Registering Property. The World Bank has been assisting Benin in developing these aspect of its investment climate for several years. With the low-hanging fruit picked, the focus is on the quality of the agencies, consolidation of reforms and sustainability. The activities implemented under the project will improve the quality of services provided by these public agencies, strengthen them, decrease time and cost, and increase usage of these services by the private sector. The benefits of properly functioning agencies that address these elements of a properly-functioning private sector are interconnected. Construction permitting and registering property contribute to securing the rights of owners and facilitate the use of property as collateral thus improving access to credit. Through consolidating the progress Benin has made, these efforts will result in cost and time savings to businesses, particularly MSMEs. They will encourage the use of these systems and facilitate their proper functioning. Furthermore, they will increase transparency and the predictability of processes affecting business performance. Thus, these efforts will decrease business risk.