The Kenya National Bureau Of Statistics data released today shows that Kenya’s economy expanded by 5.8% in 2016 from 5.7 per cent in 2015. The most fascinating thing is that the main contributors of the country’s GDP (Agriculture, Financial services & Manufacturing) recorded a decline.
The 5.8 per cent growth was mainly driven by a recovery in the tourism sector which grew to 13.3 per cent compared to a contraction of 1.3 per cent in 2015.
The agricultural sector which is the largest contributor to the country’s GDP (at 30 per cent) and accounting for 80 per cent of national employment fell to 4 per cent from 5.5 recorded in 2015.
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for approximately 14 percent of gross domestic product fell to 3.5 per cent compared to a growth of 3.6 per cent in 2015.
“Credit to manufacturing sector contracted by 4.6 per cent from KSh 290.9 billion in 2015 to KSh 277.4 billion in 2016. Cement production increased from 6.3 million tonnes in 2015 to 6.7 million tonnes in 2016.”noted Zachary Mwangi, the Director General of Kenya National Bureau Of Statistics.
Growth in the financial services industry fell by to 6.9% from 9.4% as a result of the negative impact of the rate caps introduced in August 2016. Since then, Bank credit growth fell to a decades-long low in December.
The ICT sector recorded a growth of 9.7 per cent in 2016 compared to a growth of 7.4 per cent in 2015 as mobile subscriptions increased from 37.7 million in 2015 to 39.0 million in 2016.
Employment;
Over the period, KNBS also added that the economy generated a total of 832,900 new jobs of which 85,600 were in the modern sector while 747,300 were in the informal sector.
