The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry says it is in the process of reviewing the Business Regulatory Review Act which provides a legal framework for business regulation in the country.
Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Kayula Siame notes that the review of the Act will enhance the quality of services offered by the Government.
Ms Siame says this will also contribute positively towards the creation of a favourable business environment.
She said this when Zambia handed over of the baton of Presidency to Côte D’Ivoire at the 9th International Conference of Ease of Doing Business Initiative for 2019 in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire.
She explained that the Country is also ready to put in place a legal and institutional framework that will give struggling businesses, greater chance of survival by continuous streamlining and simplifying processes and procedures of starting a business and access to finance, paying taxes, getting electricity, trade facilitation including enforcement of contracts.
“Zambia is alive to the fact that a conducive policy, regulatory and business environment is important for business to thrive therefore the Country attaches great emphasis on partnerships with the private sector and other international cooperating partners”, she reiterated.
Ms Siame disclosed that Zambia has implemented two major reforms under the Getting Credit Indicator, which are Credit information and availability of information on the Movable Property Collateral Registry.
She explained that on credit information, Zambia increased the Credit Bureau coverage with regards to persons captured on the database from 2,700,969 to 2,784,307 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 resulting in an increase of 3.1% at the total credit account records on the Credit Reference Bureau Africa Limited (CRBAL) database.
Ms Siame further noted that the Country has put in place a legal and institutional framework that will give struggling businesses, greater chance of survival by aligning the bankruptcy related protection to international best practices and expanded the use of Cooperatives as a business model for many of our peri – urban and rural entrepreneurs to come together and participate in economic activity and become the new frontier for employment creation.
The 9th International Conference Initiative of the Ease of doing business for 2019 was themed “Improving the business climate and economic growth challenges in Africa”.
This is contained in a statement issued to Money FM News by Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Public Relations Officer Godfrida Chanda.