By Godwin Oritse

Lagos—THE World Bank has said that Nigeria presently ranks 169 out of 189 countries examined for Trade Index,TI, for the year 2015.

Economy

Trade Index is a World Bank tool used to measure the ease of doing business among other things.

Other indicators measured using the TI are Trading Across Border, Getting Credit, Getting Electricity, Paying Taxes, Registering Property and Starting a Business.

World Bank officials dropped this hint during a visit to The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, corporate headquarters in Apapa.

According to the World Bank report, made public during yesterday’s visit, while Singapore beats every other country to the number one position, New Zealand and Denmark took the second and third position respectively.

South Africa ranked 73, Tanzania, Togo, Liberia, Angola, Kenya, Egypt and Benin Republic ranked 146, 150, 169, 181, 108, 131 and 158 respectively.

Meanwhile, the World Bank also yesterday reduced  its 2016 sub-Saharan African growth forecast to 3.3 percent from a previous forecast of 4.4 percent in October, citing plunging global commodity prices.

The bank said the commodity price rout, particularly for oil which fell 67 percent from June 2014 to December 2015, as well as weak global growth were behind the region’s lacklustre performance.

“Overall, growth is projected to pick up in 2017-2018 to 4.5 percent,” the World Bank said in a statement.

It said a projected uptick in economic activity next year would be driven by economic powerhouses South Africa, Nigeria and Angola as commodity prices stabilise.

Nigeria and Angola are the continent’s top two crude oil exporters, whose economies have suffered as a result of sharply lower crude prices, while South Africa was also hit by lower platinum, iron ore and coal prices.

“There were some bright spots where growth continued to be robust such as in Cote d’Ivoire, which saw a favourable policy environment and rising investment, as well as oil importers such as Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania,” the World Bank said.

Nigeria,  in a  bid to improve its  poor ranking, through the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has concluded plans to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement, TFA, with a view to enhancing import and export trade through the nation’s ports.

Also speaking, Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr. Hassan Bello said that trade remains the  mechanism through which the government can  reduce poverty and enhance national development.

He told the visiting World Bank officials that government was not pleased with the poor ranking of Nigeria in the World Trade Index trading, adding that government will do everything possible to improve the country’s ranking.

Speaking further on the need to create a level playing field in Nigeria, Ambassador Ademola Adejuwon, told leader of the visiting World Bank team that the country cannot afford to be left behind in the implementation of the TFA, saying that once two-third of the members of the World Trade Organization, WTO, signs the agreement, it becomes binding on everybody.