Unlocking Growth Potential in Kenya : Dismantling Regulatory Obstacles to Competition

Abstract

Kenya’s business environment has been weakening over recent years and this has limited the private sector’s ability to grow, create jobs, and contribute to economic development. Competitive domestic markets are necessary to boost Kenya’s competitiveness. There are two pillars that sustain effective competition policy: (i) opening markets and removing anticompetitive regulation; and (ii) effectively enforcing competition law. The main focus of this report is the identification of regulations that could restrict competition and distort markets and business decisions, having a negative effect on Kenya’s competitiveness and growth. This report contains results from a review of the regulatory framework in key areas identified using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators, the World Bank Group’s framework to identify anticompetitive regulations, and interviews with stakeholders. This report is concerned only with certain regulations that affect market competition in select sectors and topical areas. The report stems from the policy dialogue with various Kenyan institutions, supported by the Kenya Investment Climate Program. This report contains three parts. Part one identifies restrictive regulations that affect the whole economy, while Part two focuses on select sectors. Part three provides policy recommendations to promote greater competition in Kenyan markets through the assessment and modification of regulations that create obstacles to competition. It also provides estimates of the potential benefits of reforming product market regulations.

Original document

The different versions of the original document can be found in:

• http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25789 under the license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo