Structural adjustment, poverty and economic growth: An analysis for Kenya

This paper analyses the impact of structural adjustment programmes on poverty and economic growth in Kenya. The results indicate that there was a decrease in poverty between 1992 and 1994 as shown by all poverty measures, while results from other studies show that poverty increased between 1994 and 1997. There was a remarkable improvement in macroeconomic policies between 1992 and 1994, while poverty declined, but a slight deterioration in macroeconomic policy between 1994 and 1997, which led to an increase in poverty. The study recommends that the institutional bottlenecks hindering economic reform should be addressed. Poverty alleviation policies should be pursued hand in hand with reforms so as to ensure equitable distribution of the long-term benefits of growth that may spring from economic reform, as well as special targeting of the poor who are found in the non-market sector and are therefore unlikely to benefit much from economic reform policies.