Stratlink has recently released a report on the market update for various countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda. With the main focus on Kenya, the political outlook the report states the government has put efforts to intensify the crackdown on tax dodging. Investigations have been opened on various mid and top level companies. This move by the government has been taken to tackle corruption and to maximize revenue collection and reduce the fiscal deficit.
In the business environment, the Kenyan shilling has regained its strength since it surpassed Ksh 104 against the dollar towards the end of July. This has been beneficial for businesses such as the horticulture business as its exports have spiked by 34.9% year on year.
In the economic outlook, Kenya has sent off its first export consignment of crude oil from the port of Mombasa. The shipment includes over 200,000 barrels of crude oil delivered from the source in Turkana county.
This might have a significant effect on Kenya’s current account deficit in the future although currently, the current account deficit has improved over the recent past being at 3.8 USD million shillings in June 2019, a 20.7% improvement from the year before. The improvement has been driven by strong exports and income from tourism.
The report shows that on Kenya’s debt market, the yields on the one year and below government securities edged upwards in the month to 29th August 2019 although the rates of the bonds remained unchanged.
The NSE 20 share index continued its bear run performance in 2019 closing at 2,467.9 on the 28th of August 2019. The index is down by almost a quarter compared to its performance a year ago. The volume of trade has also taken a dive by 42% and the stocks hit the hardest are Kenya airways, Housing Finance, and Home Afrika.
