Important business news items to note this morning:

Kenya improves on 'Ease of Doing Business' Rankings

According to the 2015 Ease of Doing Business index released by the World Bank Group earlier today, Kenya has slightly improved its ranking. This year, the World Bank also unveiled a revised ranking methodology. Under the revised methodology, Kenya was ranked 137th last year and this year is ranked 136th . A similar ranking on the Global Competitiveness Index by the World Economic Forum improved Kenya’s ranking by 16 positions to 90th this year [...]

National Oil cuts diesel price per litre below KES 100

Nairobi motorists will buy diesel at under KES 100 for the first time in more than two years after National Oil cut prices at its outlets by a shilling. The parastatal is now retailing diesel at KES 99.60 in Nairobi, down from the Energy Regulatory Commission’s maximum of KES 100.67. Diesel prices last stood below KES 100 in the Kenyan capital in August 2012, at KES 97.09. [...]

Price wars, fraud push 14 insurance firms into losses

Price undercutting and fraud pushed 14 general insurance firms such as CIC , Resolution and AAR into large underwriting losses in the first half of the year. Data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows the companies made a total underwriting loss of KES 480.2 million in the period, meaning that they paid out more in claims and expenses than premiums collected. [...]

Transport CS Michael Kamau rules out plan to regulate air fares

The Government has dismissed plans by Parliament to regulate air fares charged by local airlines, a move that could defeat a Bill currently being debated by the house. “It is not possible to legislate private business, the era of price controls has long ended. What we need is to create an environment that allows of growth of the aviation industry,” said Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau. [...]

Fitch: Kenyan Banks Stable in Challenging Operating Environment

The global Fitch Ratings Agency says in a report published today that the Kenyan banks have been resilient through several domestic and international crises over the past six years. The banks' key strengths in general include healthy liquidity and stable earnings and asset quality while a weakness for the larger banks has historically been the low level of absolute capital and capital ratios. [...]