Togo has emerged as the benchmark for business climate in West Africa according to the World Bank's B-Ready 2026 report, published in September 2026. With an overall score of 61.52 out of 100, the country ranks first in its sub-region and third across Sub-Saharan Africa, behind Rwanda and Kenya.
The B-Ready report (Business Ready), which replaced the controversial Doing Business index in 2024, assesses economies across three pillars: regulatory framework, public services for businesses, and operational efficiency. Togo excels particularly in the «business services» component, scoring 68.4, reflecting the reforms implemented in recent years to simplify public administration.
«This ranking validates the considerable efforts deployed by the government to improve the business environment», said the Togolese Minister of Investment, highlighting the role of the Investment and Free Zone Promotion Agency (API-ZF) and the «Togo Business» digital platform. The platform now enables almost all administrative procedures to be completed online.
Notable advances identified by the World Bank include: reduction of company registration time to two working days, digitalisation of building permits, and significant improvement of the commercial justice system, with contract dispute resolution times reduced by 30% over three years.
These performances are part of the «Togo 2025» national strategy and its successor «Togo 2030», which place economic attractiveness at the heart of the development model. The country has multiplied partnerships with foreign investors in logistics — Lomé port is ranked the leading container port in West Africa — and agro-industry.
For West Africa overall, the ranking highlights the persistent lag of some larger economies such as Nigeria (scoring 44.1) and Ghana (52.3), which struggle to convert their economic scale into a business-friendly environment. Togo, geographically smaller, demonstrates that targeted and systematic reform can offset size constraints.