Kenya embarked on a comprehensive programme of economic reforms designed to deregulate the economy and put it on the path of rapid employment generating growth. Sustained effort by the government to tighten fiscal and monetary policies since mid-1993 has been effective in stabilizing the economy and contributing to the revival of economic growth. Annual inflation has been contained to a single digit. Tight control on the budget has been accompanied by tax reforms aimed at reducing the tax rates and broadening the tax base.
On structural reforms, the government has since mid-1993 made significant strides. It has eliminated exchange controls including restrictions on inward portfolio investments and removed all trade restrictions, except for a short list of a few products controlled for health, security and environmental reasons.
Stable macro-economic conditions, liberalised markets, and more operations of the strategic public enterprises are expected to enhance the level and the efficiency of private investment, and result in increased income and job creation.
The government is supporting the Private Sector and especially export-oriented industrialization with a longer term objective of achieving the status of a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC) by the year 2020.
