Brace for Tough Economic Times as Inflation Expected to Hit 11 Percent High

Inflation is expected to sharply rise after a prolonged drought with an all-time high of 11 percent.

The Parliamentary Budget Office has warned that the Country ought to be prepared for a tough time ahead.

The warning by the Parliamentary Budget Office has come at a time when Kenyans are overly stretched by the high cost of living.

The cost of living is currently estimated at a high of 6.58 percent which makes it impossible for consumers to make purchases and translates to losses in business.

A loss in businesses brings them down which results in the loss of employment and livelihood for hundreds if not thousands of Kenyans.

A few months ago 1000 shillings would provide a meal for a family of four for a week but with the current economic times makes that impossible.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), only 78,400 new formal jobs were created in the economy last year, compared to 114,400 in the year 2017.

The jobs created, unfortunately, only get to a chosen few given the Country’s corruptive state. Creation of employment has been at its slowest as before 2012, 75,000 official jobs used to avail.

The report titled ‘Unpacking the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2019/20 and the Medium Term’ warns that economic growth projection of 6.2 percent for 2019 appears to be founded on weak principles.

The report by the Parliamentary Budget Office brings to attention that projections set by the Treasury for 2019 did not take into consideration unstable weather conditions despite the failure of the March-April-May long rains season in 2018.

Kenyans are hence advised to brace themselves for what is likely to be a tough mid and ending of 2019.