PRESS RELEASE

February 24, 2009

Stakeholders in business licensing are meeting for two days in Maseru to debate the design of a new legal framework for operating businesses in the country.

The essence of the new law, called the Business and Industrial Regulation Bill, is to reduce the time and cost starting of new businesses, and to promote investment.

The project manager of the Private Sector Competitiveness Project, a World Bank funded initiative intended to improve the conditions of doing business in Lesotho, Mr. Chaba Mokuku, says Lesotho currently ranks 123rd of 181 countries in the World Bank ‘ease of doing business’ charts.

Mokuku says unless Lesotho drastically introduces these changes, the country will continue to decline, while other countries like Swaziland and Kenya are reforming very quickly.

The stakeholders are representing the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Co-operatives and Marketing, Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Ministry of Law, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Lesotho Revenue Authority, Lesotho National Development Corporation, Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation and the private sector.

When the law has been debated by stakeholders, it will be tabled before parliament for enactment.

Ends.

For more information contact:

Name: Chaba Mokuku
Position: Project Manager
Organisation: Private Sector Competitiveness and Economic Diversification Project
Telephone: 22315100
Email: cmokuku@psc.org.ls
www.psc.org.ls