Kenya's Import Expenditure Rose By 29% in Q3 2021

Kenya’s Import Expenditure Rose By 29% in Q3 2021

By Lynnet Okumu / Published January 5, 2022 | 10:41 am

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Kenya’s import expenditure rose by 29 percent in the third quarter of 2021. China remains the highest contributor with its earnings representing 31.6 percent of the total bill from Asia.

According to data from the National Treasury, Kenya’s import expenditure rose by 29 percent in the third quarter of 2021. China remains the highest contributor with its earnings representing 31.6 percent of the total bill from Asia.

The report further revealed that Africa reported a 30.3 percent increase from Q3 2020 attributed to increased imports from Tanzania which rose from 8.8 billion shillings.

Additionally, imports from Australia presented a five-fold increase, majorly on account of the increase in imports of grain sorghum, wheat, and meslin.

Asia is the largest contributor of import expenditure with its earnings standing at 346 billion shillings followed by Europe at 97 billion shillings. Africa and America follow closely at 59.2 billion and 33.6 billion shillings respectively.

Similarly, the total value of export earnings improved by 7.5 percent compared to Q3 2020 with the largest portion of total revenue from exports being from the Africa continent. This is attributed to earnings from Ethiopia which were more than double and Tanzania which rose by 56.2 percent, during the period under review.

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“This growth partly resulted from an increase in the value of domestic exports of food preparations for infants to Ethiopia and electric generating sets and converters to Tanzania. However, over the same period, exports to Uganda and South Sudan shrunk by 12.7 percent and 37.5 percent, respectively,” read part of the report.

At the same time, export earnings from the European Union marginally rose by 0.7 billion shillings, exports to Asia slightly increased by 3.3 percent while the value of exports to the United States of America rose by 31.2 percent.

KNBS reports stated that the increase from America was partly due to an increase in exports of macadamia nuts and articles of apparel and clothing accessories while the slow growth from Asia was partly due to a decline in domestic exports of tea to Pakistan.

Domestic exports on the other hand increased by 10.6 percent pushing its value to 160.2 billion shillings.

The growth was largely due to the increase in domestic exports of horticulture, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, edible products and preparations, and titanium ores and concentrates.