Uganda has been ranked as the most preferred investment destination by Kenyans according to a report by the Kenyan government.
In the 2020 report released on Thursday, August 12 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Uganda led the pack in countries investors from Kenya have the largest stock of assets.
In the 2019 financial year, Uganda had Ksh41 billion worth of assets from Kenyans, followed by Tanzania.
"Uganda was the leading destination of the stock of assets abroad during the period under review despite a decline in the value of assets from Ksh 44,639 million in 2018 to Ksh 41,454 million in 2019," reads the report in part.
"Tanzania was the second leading destination with assets valued at Ksh37,515 million in 2019. In general, the stock of assets held in EAC partner states stood at Ksh 104,709 million in 2018 and Ksh 108,499 million in 2019, accounting for 47.5 per cent and 46.3 per cent in 2018 and 2019, respectively."
The two were followed by Mauritius, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo which jointly accounted for 19.2 per cent of total stock of foreign assets in 2019.
The United Kingdom accounted for 10.4 per cent of the total stock of foreign assets in 2019 with the stock valued at Ksh 24 billion, up from Ksh 18 billion in 2018.
Foreign investors in Kenya.
During the period, Foreign investors in Kenya indicated that transport infrastructure had eased by 67 per cent, hence improvement in doing business.
Other sectors that recorded a positive deviation were ease of business registration (46.3 %) and access to business licenses (42.4%).
Similarly, the time taken to acquire single business permits and to register with the tax authority had reduced according to 38.1 per cent and 37.7 per cent of respondents.
The investors, however, decried the cost of electricity which had worsened according to 50.3 per cent of the respondents.
In addition, it took longer to get power connection as well as to access work and construction permits according to 51.0, 53.1 and 50.0 per cent of respondents, respectively.
According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Uganda's business environment and taxation regime favoured non-resident companies more than locals.
"A resident company is taxed on its income from all geographical sources. A non-resident company is only subject to Uganda income tax on income derived from sources in Uganda," read the statement in part.
