Zimbabwe has 'poor' investor protection policies - World Bank

HARARE, Friday, January 29, 2010 - ZIMBABWE has very poor investment protection policies says a report published by the Washington-DC-based World Bank.

The report, which compared 181 economies worldwide, said out of the total number surveyed Zimbabwe stood at a poor 119 in the pack.
In the Southern African region the country came way behind such nations as South Africa, Botswana, Angola, and Namibia.
It, however, beat regional neighbours Lesotho and Swaziland.
South Africa stood at number 10, Botswana at number 41, Angola (57) and Namibia at number 73.
Lesotho, on the other hand, stood at number 147 in the survey while Swaziland stood at180.
The survey studies investor protection policies compared to best practice in selected economies who make information available to the World Bank.
The higher the score, the greater the investor protection, according to the survey for 2010.
"Zimbabwe is ranked 119 overall for protecting investors," the World Bank said in the report.
It describes three dimensions of investor protection such as transparency of transactions, liability for self dealing as well as shareholders' ability to due sue officers and directors for misconduct, the World Bank said.
The Indexes vary between o and 10, with higher values indicting greater disclosure, greater liability of directors, greater powers of shareholders to challenge the transaction, and better investor protection.
Last year Zimbabwe stood at number 114 in the survey.
It, therefore, has moved five places down the ladder as far as investor protection is concerned.