Kenyan Economy Pulls From The Gutter To Grow 7.5%

The Economic Survey 2022 report released on Thursday by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that Kenya’s economy grew by 1.3 shillings trillion in the last year. Various sectors recorded positive growth in the wake of the covid 19 pandemic.

The transport sector recorded growth due to various infrastructural developments. The roads-subsector received a boost in 2021 through public- Private partnerships in various projects, Nairobi Expressway among them.

SGR reported a 24 percent increase in revenue which jumped to 13 billion shillings from 10.5 billion shillings recorded in the pandemic year. The revenue increase was partly attributable to increased cargo demand, which saw the new line introduced in 2017 push tonnes of cargo to 5,407 last year from 4,411 tonnes in 2021, a 22.6 percent increase.

“The increase in tonnage and revenue was partly attributed to the full utilization of the expanded Nairobi Inland Container Depot (ICD), re-introduction of double-stack and long freight trains. In addition, enhanced collaboration between Kenya Railways and other agencies resulted in expeditious processing and evacuation of cargo,” said KNBS.

At the same time, earnings from passenger services on Madaraka Express also doubled to 2.2 billion shillings from 896 million shillings during the period under review. This was due to an increase in demand for travel between Nairobi and Mombasa following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on public transport and the introduction of night travel.

Kenya’s tourism industry recovered significantly last year from the disruption caused by Covid-19 with industry statistics indicating that earnings could rebound to pre-pandemic numbers in the near term.

The latest data by KNBS reveals that the sector reported a 50 percent increase in international visitor arrivals to 871,300 in 2021 as economies globally relaxed travel restrictions following the rollout of mass vaccinations.

In 2020, the number of visitor arrivals through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Moi International Airport stood at 47,038, a drastic drop from the 1.5 million arrivals recorded in 2019. Bed-night occupancy of Kenyan residents grew by 49 percent to 3.8 million, accounting for 69 percent of total bed nights occupancy in 2021,” explained the KNBS in its report.

The Agriculture sector, however, posted dismal performance in 2021, contracting to a negative 0.2 percent from 5.2 percent in 2020. The decline was attributed to poor rainfall and poor harvest of tea, maize, wheat, and coffee.

Agriculture Sector recorded a negative growth of -0.2% in 2021. Tea, coffee, maize, wheat, recorded negative growth. Sugarcane rice and cut flowers recorded positive growth.

— KNBStats (@KNBStats) May 5, 2022

Despite the drop, the Agriculture sector continued to play an important role in Kenya’s economy, contributing 22.4 percent of the country’s total GDP in 2021.

In 2021, the number of jobs in the public sector rose to 923,075 from 884,600 the previous year. In the private sector, jobs stood at 1.9 million in 2021, compared to 1.8 million in 2020.

“Relaxation of various Covid-19 containment measures coupled with the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccination had a positive impact on economic activities, resulting to decline in unemployment,”  KNBS said.