Business

Business License Reform will be a game changer

February 18, 2020 4:50 pm

The Minister for Industry and Trade Premila Kumar

The Minister for Industry and Trade today stressed that the Business License Reform will be a game changer for all businesses.

Premila Kumar says the reform will bring ease in setting up a business by reducing the time from the initial 40 days to approximately eight days.

Kumar says digitizing the process to issue business licenses has seen an increase in successful applications.

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“Nausori Town Council has seen a 72% increase in issuance of business licenses in January 2020 compared to same period last year, that is 810 business licenses were issued in January 2020, compared to 470 in January 2019. In Suva, 193 new business licenses were issued compared to 74 in January 2019. Suva City Council was able to issue renewal of business licenses in less than 24 hours, whilst new business license met the 48-hour benchmark.”

Kumar says through the Digital Transformation programme, the Ministry will be able to continuously review its licensing process.

“Under this initiative, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism is mandated to implement reforms in “Ease of Doing Business”, to ensure business processes are revitalized and Fiji achieves a ranking of 50 by 2025 Doing Business Report.”

Reforming the Business Licensing process is part of the larger review process that the Government is undertaking to enhance business environment in the country.