Zambia has moved up three places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index – from 98th in the world to 95th.
It is now the sixth-easiest place to do business in Africa – after Mauritius (25th globally), Rwanda (41st), Kenya (80th), Botswana (81st) and South Africa (82nd).
This follows a dramatic drop between 2016 and 2017, where the country dropped on every measure. In 2016 it ranked 94th globally on the Index. Logistically, the country has improved from 161st globally in the “Trading Across Borders” category to 150th. The ranking improved after the implementation of the web-based customs data management platform ASYCUDA World, according to the World Bank report.
Other areas in which Zambia introduced positive reforms were: Getting Credit: Zambia strengthened access to credit by introducing a new Movable Property Act and by setting up a new collateral registry. The new law implemented a functional secured transactions system. The collateral registry is operational, unified geographically, searchable by a debtor’s unique identifier, modern, and notice based.
Paying Taxes: Zambia made paying taxes easier by introducing an online platform for filing and paying taxes. Paying taxes was also made less costly through a reduction of the property transfer tax rate.
