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Zimbabwe today launches the National Competitiveness Report about the same time the World Bank has released its Doing Business Report which showed that in spite of recent positive reforms, the country slipped two places down to 155 under the new revised method of calculation.

Zimbabwe moved 11 places to 79 from 90 in respect of getting credit and six places to 81 in terms of protecting minority investors, out of 189 countries.

We are pleased to note the gains recorded in the report. It is envisaged that the Ease of Doing Business project will allow Government to have a direct impact on business conditions by addressing some challenges through legal, regulatory or administrative reforms.

However, the same report also shows that the country slid two places down to position 155 out of 189 in terms of overall rankings, based on adjusted ranking criteria.

This is worrisome.

These indicators are vital and should serve as a mirror where we assess our performance. We are not saying the World Bank’s Doing Business Report for 2016 and indeed many other indicators by other international organisations are conclusive, but that they help us assess our performance.

They help us gauge how the international community views our character as a nation and as an investment destination. The way they view our character naturally influences how they and other organisations regard us. It influences whether or not they will bring their dollars.

Investors’ decision to come to Zimbabwe is partly down to the assessment of such international indicators over and above individual investors’ due diligence processes.

If the country could register Dangote Zimbabwe in less than a week, then the issues that Zimbabwe is failing on are not insurmountable. On starting a business, the World Bank records that on the total number of procedures required to register a firm, Zimbabwe is at 9.0 against the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) figure of 8.0. It takes 90 days to register a firm versus an SSA average of 26.8 days. Cost as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita is at 112.0 against the SSA’s 53.4.

The country needs to move away from paying lip service to issues of reform. For a long time now, the re-alignment of laws has been a common theme of many parliamentary sessions, but no significant changes have been made while talk of making the Zimbabwe Investment Authority a one-stop shop has been there forever.

The reform of the Zimbabwe Investment Authority should be fast tracked. ZIA is central to the doing business environment. This is the institution that is tasked with processing investment papers and therefore should be a world class institution.

All efforts to improve the doing business environment are either successful or fail at this stage. We may improve the financial services sector, improve our communication with foreign and local investors. This is all good. But if ZIA remains an archaic, Stone Age institution, we will achieve nothing.

This should be our primary focus. Reforming ZIA entails harmonising investment legislation and networking licensing authorities to speed up processing of investment licences.

Without this critical institution, we will always score lower marks on the doing business index both locally and internationally.

Implementation is the key.

The World Bank’s Doing Business Report for 2016 speaks the same language with the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Manufacturing Survey 2015.

The CZI manufacturing survey shows that the sector’s capacity utilisation slowed 2,2 percentage points to 34,3 percent this year from 36,5 percent last year as a result of challenges, among them, the cost of doing business, capital constraints and pressure from cheap imports.

The CZI said Zimbabwe should implement agreed reforms to ensure a better performance by industry. These two indicators highlight more or less the same points — that we need to do more.

The Government should do more to ensure the reforms are fast-tracked.

The end of the year is fast approaching and we need to have completed reforms so that Zimbabwe is ready for take-off next year.