Enforcing contracts a challenge in Zambia

Trading with Zambia presents a number of challenges. Globally, Zambia stands at 177 in the ranking of 189 economies on the “ease of trading across borders” category of the World Bank’s Doing Business 2015 report. One of the challenges is enforcing contracts. According to Doing Business, typical contract enforcement takes 611 days, costs 38.7% of the value of the claim and requires 35 procedures. This puts Zambia at 98th out of 189 economies in the ease of enforcing contracts index. South Africa (46th globally) ranks first in Africa, followed by Namibia (53rd). At the bottom is Angola (187th). Exports and imports are also time-consuming and costly. According to data collected by Doing Business, exporting a standard container of goods from Lusaka through Durban requires seven documents, takes 51 days and costs US$5 165. Imports from Durban to Lusaka require eight documents, take 53 days and cost US$7 060.