(Business in Cameroon) - Based on analysis of the criteria that led to Cameroon’s significant rise in the Doing Business 2015 (10 places) report published by the World Bank on October 28, two items were identified: progress in “the protection of minority investors” and the preservation of the gains made in areas such as the ease with which companies can access the electrical grid.

Firstly, there is the criterion of “protecting minority investors”. In this area, Doing Business 2015 places Cameroon at 117^th out of 189 countries assessed. In this indicator, the country made its greatest progress, climbing 13 spaces since it came 130^th.

The second factor is the preservation of gains. In the new Doing Business report, Cameroon moved upwards in four elements – ease in connecting to the electrical grid, ease in transferring property, fluidity in executing contracts, and cross-border trade.

Then comes the fall: In this area, the granting of building permits is the main obstacle that investors are facing, according to the report. Indeed, for this criterion, the country has lost 34 places, falling from 132^nd in 2014 to 166^th in the 2015 ranking. The next downturn is in access to credit, an area in which Cameroon has lost 5 places, and fiscal bureaucracy.

In addition, despite the increase in business creation centres in the country’s regions, Cameroon lost 6 places in the ease in creating a company. In the actual detail, the number of procedures (5 in total) and average delays (15 days) is quite below the average in Sub-Saharan Africa (7.8 procedures and 27 days respectively).