São Tomé and Príncipe

Ease of Doing Business in

São Tomé and Príncipe

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for São Tomé and Principe. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

Region Sub-Saharan Africa
Income Category Lower middle income
Population 168,526
GNI Per Capita (US$) 1,360
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
160 157 down -3

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
45.8 45.8 0.0
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 100 108 up 8
Dealing with Construction Permits 91 73 up -18
Getting Electricity 72 71 up -1
Registering Property 161 162 up 1
Getting Credit 180 180 No change
Protecting Investors 158 155 up -3
Paying Taxes 144 138 up -6
Trading Across Borders 89 90 up 1
Enforcing Contracts 181 180 up -1
Resolving Insolvency 164 162 up -2

Economy Profile

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Starting a Business

Info

The challenges of launching a business are shown below. Included are: the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.

DB 2013 Rank 100 DB 2012 Rank 108 Change in Rank up8
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 77.6 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 74.2 Improvement in DTF** (% points) up3.4
Indicator São Tomé and Príncipe Sub-Saharan Africa OECD

The total number of procedures required to register a firm. A procedure is defined as any interaction of the company founders with external parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries).

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Procedures (number)
4 8 5

The total number of days required to register a firm. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra payments.

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Time (days)
7 34 12

Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It includes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law.

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Cost (% of income per capita)
19.1 67.3 4.5

The amount that the entrepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita.

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Paid-in Min. Capital (% of income per capita)
285.8 116.0 13.3
No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Deposit minimum capital in a bank and obtain deposit evidence 1 day no charge
2 At the Guiche Unico Empresas (GUE), check the uniqueness of the proposed company name and reserve a name, register the company, obtain a tax payer identification number, publish the incorporation record in the Official Gazette or in the special Official G 3-5 days STD 5000000
* 3 Register employer and employees with the social security 1 day (simultaneous with procedure 2) no charge
* 4 Obtain and legalize the special company books 1 day (simultaneous with procedure 2) no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

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