Posted on October, 25, 2019 at 10:05 am
Press Release
By: KEPSA
Kenya has continued to improve its business environment by implementing several legal and regulatory reforms that make it easier for enterprises to thrive, according to the World Bank Group’s Doing Business 2020 report, released today.
The report shows that Kenya is currently ranked first on protecting minority investors in the world and had made resolving insolvency easier by allowing insolvent businesses to access credit after commencement of liquidation proceedings.
Among other reforms, Kenya improved access to credit by introducing the online registration, modification, and cancellation of security interests and public online searches of the collateral registry. Kenya also strengthened minority investor protections by requiring shareholders to approve the election and dismissal of an external auditor. Paying taxes was made easier thanks to a new online filing and payment system for social security contributions.
Finally, Kenya made it easier to acquire construction permits by reducing fees and by posting building permit requirements online. Kenya also made the supply of electricity more reliable by modernizing its existing infrastructure and by inaugurating a new substation in Nairobi.
KEPSA CEO, Ms. Carole Kariuki, in her remarks recalled where it all begun, which was in the first Presidential RoundTable in February 2014, when the private sector pointed out Kenya’s poor ranking on this index, noting that at the time, Kenya was ranked at number 129. She added that KEPSA together with the Ministry then got the president’s endorsement on the business environment focus of its Business Strategy (2013-2018) and National Business Agenda (NBA-II).
“Since 2014 when we focused on improving the business environment in Kenya, it has made it easy and predictable for business to invest and operate in Kenya. The predictability that has come with gains on reforms underpinned on the Company Act, the Business Registration Services Act, and the Insolvency Act which increases confidence and planning,” she added. “We acknowledge the fact that DBI is not the only barometer used to inform investment decisions, there are other indices such as the Global Competitiveness Index and the bribery Index which need to work in tandem with Ease of doing business index so that the operating environment for business improves.
“Kenya is continuing to improve and reform to offer investors a dynamic, conducive environment where they can do business, generate revenue, create jobs, and support the country’s economic growth,” said H.E. the Deputy President of Kenya, William Ruto. “Making Kenya a favorite investment destination is one of our administration’s top priorities. This calls for continuous efforts, and we are poised to sustain such efforts in order to offer businesses in Kenya the framework they deserve to expand.”
At number 56 on the 2020 Doing Business rankings, Kenya, which climbed 5 places from position 61 in 2019, is fourth among African countries, behind only Morocco (3rd); Mauritius (13th) and Rwanda (38th).
Hon. Adan Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary for East African Community & Regional Development, said; “This administration’s goal is to offer a global-best environment for investors willing to engage in our country. We are closing in on this target and deepening our reform work, in close collaboration with our partners and with the Kenyan private sector”.
This latest edition of the Doing Business report documents reforms implemented in 10 areas of business activity in 190 economies over a 12-month period ending May 1, 2019. Business-friendly environments are associated with lower levels of poverty; improved regulatory efficiency can stimulate entrepreneurship, startups, innovation, access to credit, and investment. The 2020 study is the 17th in an annual series that evaluates regulations enhancing or constraining business activity for small and medium-size enterprises.
Economies in sub-Saharan Africa enacted 73 reforms for the 2020 report, down from a record high of 108 last year, but still a considerable number and proof that the investment climate reform agenda remains strong in the region.
The Doing Business report is an annual survey produced jointly by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the World Bank as part of its Investment Climate Reform Program.
Source: KEPSA