World Bank2012-06-202012-06-202005-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8505The conclusions of the recently-conducted Kenya Investment Climate Assessment (ICA), based on a survey of 368 firms, have a bearing on the country's growth agenda. The results have a bearing on the key issue of labor productivity and its implications on firm performance, revealing that capital-intensity in Kenya was relatively high, compared to the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and also to firms in China and India, but also relatively less productive. Labor productivity in Kenya had not improved materially over the past decade or so, so that unit labor costs compared very unfavorably with those prevailing in Asian countries like India, China, Indonesia or Thailand. Major constraints to doing business cited by firms in the survey related to infrastructure, tax administration and corruption. On infrastructure, power supply was seen as the most problematic, on account of the high number of outages, compounded by high losses in transmission and distribution. 64 percent of firms reported damage to equipment on account of power outages or fluctuations valued at nearly $15,000 per firm per year. To cope with these outages 70 percent of firms had acquired generators, further adding to the cost of doing business. Road and rail services were reported by most firms as being of very poor quality, and nearly a quarter of firms reported having to spend their own resources to improve the quality of roads in surrounding areas. On corruption, three quarters of firms surveyed reported this as a problem, though only about half reported having to spend resources in terms of unofficial payments.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOADMINISTRATIVE COSTSBANKRUPTCYBANKRUPTCY PROCEDURESCOLLUSIONCOMPETITIVENESSCONTRACT ENFORCEMENTCORRUPTIONDEPOSITSECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESSECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC RECOVERYELECTIONSEMPLOYMENTEXPORT GROWTHEXPORTSFINANCIAL CRISISFINANCIAL SERVICESGDPGOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH POTENTIALHUMAN CAPITALIMPORTSINFRASTRUCTURE SERVICESJURISDICTIONLABOR COSTSLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLABOR PRODUCTIVITYLAND USELAWSLEGAL FRAMEWORKLEGISLATIONLEVEL PLAYING FIELDLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL AUTHORITIESLOCAL GOVERNMENTMARKET ECONOMYMARKET PRICESMARKET VALUEMATCHING GRANTSMORTALITYNATIONAL INCOMENEW ENTRANTSNOMINAL CAPITALPOLICY RESEARCHPOVERTY ALLEVIATIONPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATIZATIONPRODUCERSPRODUCTIVITYPUBLIC POLICYQUOTASREGULATORY FRAMEWORKRISK MANAGEMENTSECURITIESSEWERAGE SERVICESSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTTAX ADMINISTRATIONTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETELECOMMUNICATIONSTRADE FLOWSTRANSACTIONS COSTSTRANSPARENCYTRANSPORTTRANSPORTATIONUNEMPLOYMENTVALUATIONVALUE ADDEDWorld Bank