PSDI's Companies, Insolvency & Business Names Acts — Modernising Kiribati's Business Law

PSDI, a technical-assistance programme run by the Asian Development Bank in partnership with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, began working with the Government of Kiribati in 2014 on business-environment reforms. A 2016 PSDI diagnostic identified outdated business legislation and high start-up costs as key constraints on private-sector activity in the small Pacific atoll nation.
Kiribati's Parliament passed three foundational laws in May 2021: the Companies Act, the Company Insolvency Act, and the Business Names Act, confirmed in the official Kiribati government legal text lodged with the ILO's NATLEX database. The legislation modernised company and business-name registration procedures and introduced more flexible rules for managing corporate debt, liquidation and receivership.
Beyond the legislation, PSDI also worked to strengthen the Kiribati Provident Fund and the Development Bank of Kiribati's credit and risk-management policies. As with many law-reform projects, publicly available sources document the legislative milestone itself rather than post-enactment business registration or investment figures, so demonstrated on-the-ground economic impact remains to be independently verified.

Read the full analysis: https://pacificpsdi.org/news-and-insights/news/read/new-psdi-supported-laws-make-it-easier-to-start-operate-and-grow-businesses-in-kiribati