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Zambia


Doing Business In Zambia

 
  1. Zambia’s overall Doing Business 2013 ranking is 94, declining by 4 points from last year. This decrease reflects drops in 6 out of 10 indicators.
  2. Enterprise Surveys (2007) identified the top obstacles to running a business as Tax Rates, Practices of the Informal Sector, and Access to Finance in Zambia. Only 16.0% of firms reported having a loan or line of credit from a financial institution, compared with 22.5% for the region and 35.9% for all countries surveyed.
  3. Zambia is one of the most open countries to foreign equity ownership, as measured by the Investing Across Sectors indicators. All of the 33 sectors covered by the indicators are fully open to foreign equity ownership. Monopolistic market structures characterize the electricity transmission and distribution sectors, though, representing a potential obstacle to foreign investors. It takes 9 procedures and 58 days to establish a foreign-owned limited liability company (LLC) in Lusaka, Zambia. The process is less complex than the IAB regional and global averages, but takes longer to complete.
  4. Zambia’s economic freedom score is 58.3, making its economy the 96th freest in the 2012 Index. Its score has decreased by 1.4 points, reflecting lower scores in four of the 10 economic freedoms, including monetary freedom and labor freedom. Zambia is ranked 12th out of 46 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall score is just below the world average.

Source: World Bank

 

Visa Information

All foreigners visiting Zambia need visas, but for most nationalities tourist visas are available at major borders, airports and sea ports. But it’s important to note that you should have a Zambian visa before arrival if travelling by train or boat from Tanzania.
 
Citizens of South Africa and Zimbabwe can obtain visas on arrival for free. For all other nationalities, tourist visas are issued on arrival, but cost about US$25 for a transit visa (valid for seven days), US$25/40 for a single-/double-entry visa (valid for three months) and US$100 for a multiple-entry visa (valid for three years). Brits, however, are slugged for transit/single/double/multiple-entry visas US$60/60/80/80.
 
Visas for onward travel
It’s always best to visit any embassy or high commission in Lusaka between 9am and noon from Monday to Friday.
 
Visas for Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania and Botswana are easy to obtain on arrival at the borders of these countries for most visitors. However, if you’re travelling by train or boat to Tanzania, check with the Tanzanian high commission in Lusaka about whether you need a visa beforehand. If so, three-month visas cost from US$25 to US$50 (depending on your nationality). You cannot obtain a visa for Namibia at the border; tourist visas are either free or cost US$30, depending on your nationality, in Lusaka. For Mozambique, transit visas (valid for seven days) cost US$11, single-entry visas (for one month) cost US$20, and multiple-entry visas (for three months) cost US$40.

Business Etiquette

General Business Hours