NAD
Supporting Them Support Themselves

Today the World Bank launched its first “Kenya Economic Update”

The title of this first Kenya Economic Update is “Still standing – Kenya’s slow recovery from a quadruple shock with a special focus on the food crisis”. This title has two meanings. First, the economy seems to stand still as economic growth barely matches population growth. Kenya continues to operate below its potential. Second, Kenya’s economy has weathered

four crises – post-election violence, global food crisis, global financial turmoil, and drought – and is “still standing”.

Kenya has proven particularly resilient to the global financial crisis: Its fiscal position is strong, the financial sector robust, the external sector in balance, and inflation below 10 percent.

The World Bank projects a GDP growth rate of 3.5 percent in Kenya for 2010. In 2009, growth has been driven by services and construction (figure 1). Kenya’s service sector has been traditionally very strong and accounts for 55 percent of the economy. This year, growth in the service sector (+4.5%) was supported by a rebound in tourism (+28 percent) which experienced a record decline in 2008 (-36 percent). IT-based industries have also shown strong growth in phone connectivity (+35%) and internet access (+28 percent). Industry, which accounts for 17 percent of the economy, will grow by an estimated 3 percent,

owing mostly to the booming construction sector (+13%).

For more about the report, please click HERE.