World Bank issues the 2020 edition of Doing Business
The World Bank issued on 24 October 2019 the 2020 edition of the “Doing Business” Report, a study which measures annually the ease of doing business in 190 economies worldwide.
According to the Report, Kenya ranks 56 out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business, ahead of developed countries like Italy (58th position).
The areas of business regulation that are examined, 12 in total, include the “trade across borders” indicator, which gives an evaluation of the time and cost needed to complete formalities related to import and export operations. With regard to this indicator, Kenya is rated in a middle position (117), experiencing a worsening position compared to the last year's report.
Compared to the other Sub-Saharan countries, on average Kenya performs relatively better, with the only exception of imports, where a trader has to wait 194 hours for border compliance, for a cost of 833 USD, against the regional average of 136,4 hours (and a cost of 690.6 USD). In particular, "border compliance” is a sub-indicator that measures time and cost related to: a) customs clearance and inspections; b) inspections by other agencies; c) handling and inspection operations that take place at a particular seaport or land border.
Cost of documentary compliance for export in Kenya is also labeled as particularly high, as a trader has to pay 191 USD against an average 172.5 USD in sub-Saharan Africa.