Kenya

Abstract

Through the colonial period and after independence in 1963 Kenya was the dominant economy of East Africa. However, the economy grew only intermittently in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1993, the government of Kenya introduced a programme of economic liberalisation and reform that included the removal of import licensing, price controls, and foreign exchange controls. Stop-go relationships with donors supporting structural adjustment, deterioration of infrastructure, civil instability, corruption and political uncertainty regarding the successor to President Moi hindering investor confidence, are factors variously put forward to explain Kenya’s poor economic performance.

This chapter consists of edited and updated extracts from Hubbard (1999b).