In the face of evolving global and regional economic circumstances, the facility for investment climate advisory services (FIAS), too, is evolving in the expertise and products it delivers, the issues that it takes on, and the way in which it provides services and implements solutions.
... See More + For the fiscal years (FY) 2017-2021 strategy cycle, FIAS is carrying on its core mission of helping developing countries strengthen their economies while innovating in a number of new areas related to impact measurement, services, and themes. The trade and competitiveness (T and C) global practice, which implements FIAS-supported programs, leverages all the World Bank Group’s key tools and instruments, enabling FIAS to enhance its private sector development focus.
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Shifting Kenya’s private sector into higher gear: a trade and competitiveness agenda’ was born out of the World Bank’s Trade and Competitiveness (T&C) Global Practice recent stock taking of its work in Kenya.
... See More + This was part of a Programmatic Approach that aimed to organize T&C’s knowledge, advisory, and convening services to address Kenya’s development challenges in the private sector space. By Sub-Saharan African standards, Kenya has a large private sector, which accounts for around 70 percent of total formal employment. As a result, the dynamics of the private sector are a key determinant of the trajectory of the Kenyan economy. The country’s product market regulations a restrictive for domestic competitors and foreign entrants, and the actions of cartels and behavior of dominant firms across sectors undermines competition and hurts consumers. The Kenyan Government recognizes these challenges and has invested significantly in unlocking these bottlenecks with impressive results so far and several important laws passed. Additional efforts to ease regulatory constraints and expedite important legislative changes could improve the investment climate at national and county levels.
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A literature review shows competition policy reforms can deliver benefits for the poorest households and improve income distribution. A lack of competition in food markets hurts the poorest households the most.
... See More + Competition in input markets and between buyers helps farmers and small businesses. And more competitive markets bolster job growth over the longer term. More research is needed, however, to better understand the impact of competition reforms and antitrust enforcement on poverty and shared prosperity.
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Promoting faster growth and poverty alleviation through competition is particularly important for South Africa, which is facing weak economic growth and limited fiscal resources and has to look to avenues outside the fiscal space to stimulate faster sustainable growth and progress towards its ultimate goal of eliminating poverty, outlined in the 2030 National Development Plan (NDP).
... See More + The update presents a candid assessment of South Africa’s economic prospects. With growth declining in per capita terms the NDP goals are moving further out of reach. South Africa urgently needs fundamental reforms to kick start growth and promote job creation. Advancing with reforms to improve the lives of South Africans is particularly attractive, since they hold the potential to boost growth and speed up poverty alleviation. Competition policy demonstrates the power of bold reform to ease pressures in times of a tight public purse. The report is organized as follows: section one presents economic developments and prospects, and section two presents promoting faster growth and poverty alleviation through effective competition policy.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 103057 FEB 01, 2016
This paper investigates the link between competitive, well-functioning food markets and consumer welfare. The paper explores two key food markets in Kenya -- sugar and maize -- and argues that a variety of factors conspire to distort market prices upward.
... See More + Distortionary factors include import tariff policy, nontariff barriers, potential anticompetitive conduct by firms, and direct state intervention in markets. Changes in sugar and maize prices are shown to have significant welfare effects on consumers. Equivalent income effects are estimated using the most recent available representative household survey data -- the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2005/06. The paper shows that relaxing trade barriers to allow sugar prices to fall by 20 percent could reduce poverty by 1.5 percent. Similarly, adjusting government interventions in the maize market, which have been shown to inflate maize prices by 20 percent on average, could reduce poverty by 1.8 percent. The magnitude of the estimated income effects may vary based on updated household-level consumption data, assumptions regarding demand elasticities, and estimates of import parity prices for these staples. However, in all the scenarios, more competitive prices have a larger average effect on the poorest households in urban and rural areas, supporting the relevance of effective competition policies for poverty reduction strategies.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7179 JAN 01, 2015
For the economy to attain its full potential, the Philippines requires an efficient water transport system. However, this is presently not the case.
... See More + The domestic shipping industry is characterized by high costs, low quality of service, and a poor safety record. Logistics cost accounts for 24-53 percent of wholesale price, while shipping and port handling cost around 8 percent of wholesale price and 5 percent of retail price. Philippine domestic shipping is generally more expensive than in Malaysia or Indonesia, 2 other archipelagos. Moreover, it is more expensive to transport goods between 2 Philippine ports than between 2 Philippine ports via an international port. In the East Asia region, the Philippines trails behind its neighbors in various logistics performance and connectivity indices. For instance, in liner shipping connectivity, the Philippines ranked 66th out of 157 countries in 2013, and performs the worst among a group of East Asian comparators. Delays in shipment, slow cargo handling, and frequent accidents are the top complaints of businesses. In the East Asia Region, the Philippines has the highest absolute casualty rate and this is 40 percent higher than the second ranked country, Indonesia. On average, there are 228 ships involved in accidents and 303 casualties per year in the Philippines. In seeking to enhance competition in the delivery of domestic shipping services, this assessment has therefore focused particularly on measures that would increase the opportunities and incentives for new players to enter the market, and for existing operators to expand or vary the services they offer.
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Working Paper 105363 SEP 01, 2014
Catangui,Gerlin May U.; Supangco, Lito; Pop,Georgiana; Meyrick, Steve; Galang,Roberto Martin Nolan; Martinez Licetti,Martha; Begazo Gomez,Tania Priscilla; Shrader,HansDisclosed
The East African Community (EAC) investment climate program includes a component that removes constraints to seed markets and regional trade to expand business beyond national boundaries and open markets to competition.
... See More + This component will help the program facilitate intraregional trade of certified seeds, increase access to quality seeds for EAC farmers, and boost productivity.
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Renewable energy is a viable, cost-effective way to provide power to rural and remote areas, lower electricity generation costs over time, and reduce costly power outages.
... See More + Renewable energy technologies could benefit the nearly 1.5 billion people who lack electricity access, 85 percent of whom are in rural areas, and reduce losses for firms due to power outages (which are equivalent to about 8 percent of their sales in low-income countries). This note discusses key steps for opening the power sector to renewable energy projects in developing countries while encouraging efficient, competitive markets. It recommends policy approaches, measures to ease entry, and ways of reducing investor risks for on- and off-grid renewable energy projects.
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