The World Bank Report No: ISR9868 Implementation Status & Results Mauritania MR - Business Environment Enhancement Project (P102031) Public Disclosure Copy Operation Name: MR - Business Environment Enhancement Project (P102031) Project Stage: Implementation Seq.No: 11 Status: ARCHIVED Archive Date: 09-Apr-2013 Country: Mauritania Approval FY: 2008 Product Line: IBRD/IDA Region: AFRICA Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Implementing Agency(ies): Key Dates Board Approval Date 22-May-2008 Original Closing Date 30-Nov-2013 Planned Mid Term Review Date 16-Sep-2012 Last Archived ISR Date 23-Dec-2012 Effectiveness Date 28-Dec-2009 Revised Closing Date 30-Nov-2013 Actual Mid Term Review Date 18-Sep-2012 Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The overall project development objective (PDO) is to enhance the business climate through improvements in the financial, legal and judiciary sectors, and regulatory environment for business. This would facilitate private-sector led growth/investment in the economy and improve the services of the public enterprises that directly impact private sector growth and development. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project? Yes No Component(s) Component Name Component Cost 1. Improving the Business Climate to Foster Private Sector Development 3.00 2. Building Public-Private Partnerships and Productivity Enhancement 1.50 3. Support for Project Implementation 0.50 Overall Ratings Public Disclosure Copy Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Unsatisfactory Moderately Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating High High Implementation Status Overview As agreed prior to the restructuring, the project PDO and IP ratings have been upgraded to MS after a supervision mission in January 2013 during which noticeable Progress both in implementation and disbursement was witnessed. In addition to disbursement which has increased by 28% to reach close to 50% of the Credit, several activities have been completed or shown very good progress such as: (i) Audit of 10 commercial banks which were completed and an action plan was drafted by the Central Bank of Mauritania to implement the recommendations. Page 1 of 5 The World Bank Report No: ISR9868 (ii) Credit bureau: Preliminary work was completed to ensure a secure line of communication exists between the Central Bank and Commercial banks for transfer of data on borrowers. (iii) One-stop-shop for enterprise creation: a feasibility study was undertaken to help Direction Générale de la promotion du Secteur Privé (DGPSP) set up a one-stop-shop. This is to be followed by an implementation of the recommendations of the study. Public Disclosure Copy (iv) Electricity Sector: the studies on the Electricity sector master plan as well as implementation of new tariffs by SOMELEC (the state-owned electricity company) have been completed and will prove very valuable for the efficiency of the energy sector as well as for the « Gas-to-Power » Project in preparation. (v) MAURIPOST : The audit report for MAURIPOST has been finalized and delivered to the authorities for implementation of the recommendations. (vi) Financial Sector Strategy: Financed by FIRST trust fund, the strategy has finally been adopted by the Government. A dissemination workshop is to be scheduled to solicit the financial support of the donor community for implementation. The Level I restructuring of the Project amended the legal documents by: (i) revising the Project Development Objective (PDO); (ii) modifying, eliminating originally planned project activities and adding others that are more consistent with the PDO; (iii) reallocating funds accordingly across old and new disbursement categories; (iv) revising the Results Framework to be coherent with the restructured components and activities; and (v) extending the closing date by a year from November 30, 2013 to November 30, 2014. This first extension of the closing date is necessary to allow completion of planned project activities and make the revised PDO achievable. As part of the restructuring, the disbursement estimates were revised. No new Safeguards were triggered and safeguard level C remained the same. The restructured Project is closely aligned with Government commitment towards undertaking key investment climate reforms for Private and financial sector development. It has provided a new momentum to the Project which activities have been reformulated to support the following key investment climate reforms: i) starting a business; ii) getting credit; and iii) paying taxes. The revised PDO is to enhance the business climate for financial institutions and other targeted private sector enterprises in Mauritania. The revised PDO Outcome indicators are: (1) Number of procedures required to establish a business is reduced (2) Percentage of credits reported to the credit registry increases. As discussed above, there is already progress being made towards meeting the revising PDO and outcomes sought. There are no new risks identified for the Project and the risk rating remains the same. Locations Country First Administrative Division Location Planned Actual Mauritania District de Nouakchott Nouakchott Results Project Development Objective Indicators Public Disclosure Copy Indicator Name Core Unit of Measure Baseline Current End Target Non performing loans (NPLs) at commercial Text Value 20% 28% 15% banks improve Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Central Bank (BCM) latest available data Number of procedures required to establish a Text Value 11 9 5 business is reduced Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Doing Business 2013 data Page 2 of 5 The World Bank Report No: ISR9868 Percent of Commercial and financial court Text Value 0% 0 80% decisions that are published on the GRIM Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 website increases Comments No output yet. Public Disclosure Copy Intermediate Results Indicators Indicator Name Core Unit of Measure Baseline Current End Target Cost to start up a business (as a percent of Text Value 56% 47.6% 35% GNI per capita) decreases Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Doing Business 2013 data Number of days required to start a business Text Value 65 19 30 decreases Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Doing Business 2013 data Percentage of tax on gross revenue decreases Text Value 107 68.2% 60 Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Doing Business 2013data Number of tax payments per year decreases Text Value 38 37 20 Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Doing Business 2013 data Number of performance contracts signed for Text Value 0 0 5 key public enterprises (Somelec, Somagaz, Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 SNDE, Mauripost & Port of Nouakchott) Comments Hiring of audit firms has been increases halted due to mis- procurement. Investment plan for electricity sector is Text Value No investment plan exists Final report available Plan is completed and completed adopted Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Final report of Study available Public Disclosure Copy for review and approval by the authorities. Volume of Bank Support: Enabling Amount(USD) Value 0.00 65000.00 1000000.00 Environment - Microfinance Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Comments Support to BCM to improve supervision of microfinance is on-going. Volume of Bank Support: Enabling Amount(USD) Value 0.00 100000.00 1000000.00 Environment - SME Date 01-Jan-2008 31-Dec-2012 30-Nov-2013 Page 3 of 5 The World Bank Report No: ISR9868 Comments Studies, workshop and training Public Disclosure Copy Data on Financial Performance (as of 27-Feb-2013) Financial Agreement(s) Key Dates Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Original Closing Date Revised Closing Date P102031 IDA-44480 Effective 22-May-2008 01-Jul-2008 28-Dec-2009 30-Nov-2013 30-Nov-2013 Disbursements (in Millions) Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P102031 IDA-44480 Effective XDR 3.20 3.20 0.00 1.59 1.61 50.00 Disbursement Graph Public Disclosure Copy Key Decisions Regarding Implementation Level 1 Project Restructuring in progress and on course to be approved by the Board before end-March 2013. Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Projects Page 4 of 5 The World Bank Report No: ISR9868 There are no related projects. Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy Page 5 of 5