World Bank 2011 Doing Business Index shows SA dropping in ranking

"As with other indices issued of late, South Africa has not lost place as a result of declining scores, but rather as a result of other economies improving at a more rapid rate," said Brand South Africa CEO Miller Matola.

"Our consistent ratings are underpinned by improvements in areas such as closing a business, where we are up three places to 74; as well as in enforcing contracts where we improved on position to 85, from 86. In contrast to this South Africa lost ground in areas such as starting a business, registering a company and trading across borders," said Matola.

Consistent ratings of South Africa as an investment market as well as a strong ranking against emerging markets (specifically all four BRIC nations) underpin South Africa's performance. Protecting investors and access to credit underpin a consistent performance rating as efforts to build South Africa's competitive reputation continue to gain momentum

The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank and uses empirical research to justify its work by showing the effect of improving regulations on economic growth. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. The Ease of Doing Business index is meant to measure regulations directly affecting businesses and does not directly measure more general conditions such as a nation's proximity to large markets, quality of infrastructure, inflation, or crime.