73
Overall, government regulations appear to have an ambiguous impact on growth. Some helped growth, while others hindered. The responses (Table 7.10) indicate that only about 12 percent of the responses were positive with regard to impact of regulations. The regulations which assisted in growth were identified as the ability to import on concessionary rates and tax rebates on exports. The factors which adversely impacted on growth were not necessarily only in the realm of regulations
but extended to policy and modus operandi.
These included energy crisis, corruption,
law and order situation, and a spectrum of Government policies. For instance, on the issue of corruption some respondents stated that they bribed customs officials (at
the import stage, the police and officials of various government agencies. Responding to questions on the type of assistance required to help growth, vendors surveyed emphasized
the reduction in power outages, a reduction in taxes and in the cost of inputs. Formal vendors also suggested technical support as another avenue. They requested fora greater access to finance, while informal vendors asked for more technical assistance. The type of support required by the vendors from the government is listed in Table 7.11.
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