The Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria.
Nigeria rose 15 places in the World Bank Doing Business Report 2020 to 131st position out of 190 countries surveyed. This means that Nigeria has advanced by 38 places over the last three years since 2016 when it was 169th on the global ranking. Over this period the World Bank recognised Nige-ria as one of the economies with the most notable improvement in doing business. Of all the 10 doing business indicators, the Getting Credit category has had the best ranking, even as its global ranking dropped in the 2019/20 report to 15th, alongside countries like Canada and Georgia.
The finance and credit system is the key enabler of the other sustainable development goals, particularly in reducing poverty and in giving people dignity. Over the last decade, building inclusive financial systems has become an important objective for policy mak-ers around the World. This has led to dramatic improvements in financial access globally.
According to Global Findex, its 2017 database shows that the global share of adults who have an account with a financial institution or through a mobile money service increased to 69% in 2017 from 62% in 2014, and 1.2 billion adults have obtained an account since 2011. This share has also increased in developing economies, from 54% to 63%, amid gender constrains in account open-ing. Digital technology has become a key support and enabling pillar in the financial space worldwide. ‘Technology giants have also moved into the financial sphere, leveraging deep customer knowledge to provide a broad range of financial services’.
Each economy has its own story of successes, challenges, and opportunities concerning financial inclusion, and the effects of these outcomes depend mainly on the strength of the credit architecture of each country. Nigeria achieved 63% financial inclusion in 2018 from 36.3% in 2010. It seeks to achieve 80% by 2020.