Multi-Country Investment Climate Program

There is broad consensus about the relevance of investment climate (IC) reform. Worldwide, private companies account for more than 90% of job creation and represent a major source of economic growth. Their ability to grow and reduce poverty depends critically on a well-functioning IC: Simple, clear and transparent regulations create a level playing field for small- and medium enterprises (SMEs), increase competition and spur innovation. Furthermore, an improved IC reduces various costs for firms, triggers additional investments and can lead to job creation. Despite progress, the IC is an ongoing challenge in SECO?s countries of intervention.

The development objective of the MCICP is to improve competitiveness and enable sustainable growth in SECO partner countries through a conducive IC. IC reforms aim to reduce the compliance costs for firms, allowing them to put freed-up time and money to more productive use. Economy-wide, this leads to higher investments, increased competition, higher productivity and to a positive effect on jobs.

Among other interventions, the program helps countries to improve their policies that regulate competition. This allows all companies in the market to work under equal and fair conditions. Furthermore, the MCICP helps governments to make the rules governing registration, oversight and the termination of businesses more transparent and less burdensome. That leads to reduced costs for companies and their ability to re-invest the saved money. Moreover, the additional transparency significantly reduces the potential for corruption. The MCICP can also deliver targeted support to individual, labour intensive sectors with an above-average contribution to GDP.

Principaux résultats attendus:  

The MCICP delivers targeted IC reform advisory in the following areas:

Policies that enable fair and equal competition among companies

Economy-wide IC reform (business entry regulations, incpections regimes, licencing regulations, business exit regulations, etc.)

Policies and promotional instruments to attract (foreign) investment

Industry-specific IC reform (primarily reforms in the agri-, tourism and manufacturing sectors)

In addition to the above, the MCICP supports analytical tools in the area of IC reform, such as Subnational Doing Business Reports.