Zambia has retained its position as the 85th-easiest country to do business with, according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business” ranking.The country achieved its 85th place ranking in 2019.Its best score (4th in the world) is for obtaining credit, while its lowest (155th) is trading across borders.The costs for importing and exporting are, however, lower than those of South Africa and the sub-Saharan Africa average.Where it falls down is in the time taken to export and import goods through the borders.A study by the Global Economic Governance (GEG) Africa programme found that some contributors to slow border clearance include poor signage and a lack of disaggregated lanes for off loading trucks, transit trucks, buses, commercial vehicles and passengers; a lack of risk management processes for scanning and inspections, leading to numerous inspections and duplication of efforts among border agencies; low levels of staffing among customs officials; Zambian clearing agents’ information gaps on customs procedures; and driver behaviour, where drivers remain at the border despite completion of clearance.There has, however, been some progress in speeding up cross-border trade.During the period under review, Zambia made exporting and importing easier by implementing a web-based customs data management platform, Asycuda World.But, according to the report, the implementation was marred by Zambia shifting all clearance authority to a central processing centre at the initial stage of implementing it. This led to delays.
