Kenya has moved five places up in the Ease of Doing Business to position 56 out of 190 countries ranked.
The ranking places Kenya 4th in Africa after Mauritius which was the highest-ranked African nation at position 13 followed by Rwanda and Morocco.
The latest Ease of Doing Business ranking by the World Bank notes that Kenya’s improved rating was helped by among others ease of acquiring construction and property permits as well as ease of credit access.
Kenya’s improved ranking was also boosted by a reduction of fees levied on building permits, which attracted more investors to the construction sector.
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The report further says modernization and improvement of existing power lines in the country and the inauguration of new electricity substations helped improve access and reliability of electricity supply as well as the connection of more customers to the national power grid.
Registration of permits which according to the government now takes a minimum of 12 days from 72 days five years ago has also boosted Kenya’s rankings.
The report notes that Kenya has strengthened access to credit by introducing online registration, modification and cancellation of security interests and public online searches of the collateral registry.
Kenya also improved in protecting minority investors by requiring shareholders to approve the election and dismissal of an external auditor.
Ease of paying taxes due to online filing of taxes and resolving insolvency easier by improving the continuation of the debtor’s business during insolvency also made Kenya a friendly destination to investors.
The ease of doing business report reviews the ease of starting a business in a country, cross border trading and level of enforcing contracts.