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Country Snapshot - Kenya  

HighlightsRankingsQuantitative DataLegislationAnalytical WorkProject Portfolio
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Low income
  • 40,862,900 (2011)
  • 780
Kenya Flag
Below are select highlights for the data included in the profile.

  1. Doing Business 2011 (DB 2011) ranks Kenya at 98th position. The overall score has slightly declined this year, reflecting lower scores for five indicators. In DB 2011, Kenya eased business start-up by reducing the time it takes to get the memorandum and articles of association stamped, merging the tax and value added tax registration procedures and digitizing records at the registrar. The country also speeded up trade by implementing an electronic cargo tracking system and linking this system to the Kenya Revenue Authority’s electronic data interchange system for customs clearance.
  2. According to the latest Enterprise Surveys (2007), the top there constraints to investment in Kenya include Tax Rates, Access to Finance and Practices of the Informal Sector.
  3. Among the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa covered by the Investing Across Sectors indicators, Kenya restricts foreign ownership in more sectors than most other economies. Foreign capital participation in telecommunications is limited to a maximum of 70%. However, the law provides foreign investors with a grace period of 3 years to build up the required domestic capital contribution of 30%.
  4. Kenya’s economic freedom score is 57.4, making its economy the 106th freest out of 183 countries in the 2011 Index. Its score is virtually unchanged from last year, with gains in trade and investment freedom offsetting a significantly lower government spending score. Kenya is ranked 14th out of 46 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall score is below the world average. Kenya’s economy, one of Africa’s most developed, has gradually emerged from political instability and the economic slowdown. Reforms in public finance management have continued, though progress has been sluggish. Weak protection of property rights and extensive corruption continue to hold back overall economic freedom.

Subnational Doing Business Report

Doing Business in Kenya 2010 compares business regulations across 11 Kenyan localities. The report focuses on local and national regulations that affect 4 stages in the life of a small or medium-size domestic enterprise: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, and enforcing contracts.

Doing Business in Kenya 2010, the first subnational report on the country, found that differences in local regulations and in the enforcement of national-level regulations can enhance or constrain local business activity. It also found that some localities already perform up to international standards. These findings suggest that localities in Kenya could learn from each other and adopt good practices that already work within the country.

Main Findings

  • If a hypothetical city, "Kenyana," were to adopt the best practices already in place in Kenya’s 11 localities, it could rank 78th among the 183 economies measured in the global Doing Business report. That ranking is 17 positions better than Kenya’s 2010 global rank (represented by Nairobi).
  • Narok, Malaba, and Thika led the overall ranking on the 4 indicators measured in the report. Isiolo, Nairobi, and Kilifi lag behind other localities.
  • Resolving a commercial dispute was speedy in Malaba. The 11 months needed to enforce a contract in Malaba was less than the OECD average (15.5 months).

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