Regulatory reform for closing Africa's competitiveness gap

Over the past decade, Africa has been experiencing an economic resurgence. Yet, the continent is facing several difficult challenges and many economies of the region continue to be among the least competitive in the world. Africa's competitiveness is adversely affected by: (i) poor regional infrastructure networks; and (ii) weak institutional capacity. Increased regionalization could potentially address both these challenges. Regional integration of regulation, combined with regionalization of regulated firms, could assist the countries of Africa in overcoming national limits in technical expertise, enhance national capacity to make credible policy commitments, improve the efficiency of infrastructure industries, and increase infrastructure investment.