Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.6 per cent in 2015 compared to 5.3 per cent growth in 2014, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has said. This expansion was driven by significant growth in some key sectors among them agriculture; construction; real estate; and financial and insurance;
However, growths in mining and quarrying; information and communication; and wholesale and retail trade decelerated during the same period. Accommodation and food services was the only sector whose growth contracted by 1.3 per cent which was however an improvement from the previous year decline of 16.7 per cent. Key macroeconomic indicators remained relatively stable during the review period.
Overall, inflation eased from 6.9 per cent in 2014 to 6.6 per cent in 2015 due to lower energy and transport prices. The current account deficit as a percentage of GDP narrowed from 14.5 per cent in 2014 to 11.4 per cent in 2015. This was due to a substantial growth in export of goods and services and a reduction in the import bill.
The Kenyan Shilling depreciated against its major trading currencies during the review period but appreciated against the Euro, South Africa Rand and the Japanese Yen, respectively. Despite the monetary authorities adjusting the Central Bank rate (CBR), the weighted average interest rates on commercial banks loans and advances rose by 1.40 percentage points to 17.45 per cent in December 2015 compared to a rise of 15.99 per cent in December 2014. The volume of stocks traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) declined significantly from a high of 5,346 points in the first quarter of 2015 to 4,040 points in December 2015.
Employment and Earnings
The economy generated a total of 841.6 thousand jobs of which 128.0 thousand jobs were in the modern sector while 713.6 thousand were in the informal sector, during the period under review. Wage employment within the public sector increased from 700.8 thousand persons in 2014 to 718.4 thousand persons in 2015.
Public Finance
Total stock of debt as at end of 2014/15 stood at KSh 2,601.4 billion, of which external debt stock accounted for 54.7 per cent. Debt servicing charges net of repayments from on lending are expected to stand at KSh 399.0 billion.
Building and Construction
The country witnessed a thriving building and construction sector in 2015 registering a growth of 13.6 per cent in value added, attributed to the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway. Cement consumption went up by 9.9 per cent in 2015 in tandem with the growth in the building and construction sector.
Tourism
Tourism earnings went down to KSh 84.6 billion in 2015 compared to KSh 87.1 billion in 2014. Similarly, international visitor arrivals declined by 12.6 per cent from 1,350.4 thousand in 2014 to 1,180.5 thousand in 2015. The suppressed performance was on account of security concerns, particularly in the coastal region and restrictive travel advisories from some European source markets.
Information and Communication Technology
The value of Information Communication Technology output expanded by 8.1 per cent from 259.0 million in 2014 to KSh 280.0 million in 2015. In 2015, mobile telephone subscriptions increased to 37.7 million subscribers, resulting to penetration rate of 85.4 per cent. Internet subscriptions increased significantly from 16.4 million in 2014 to 23.9 million in 2015.
Imports & Exports
Kenya’s Total exports in 2015 rose by 8.2% to KSh 581 Billion as Total imports declined by 2.5% to KSh 1,578 billion. Uganda remained the leading destination of Kenya’s exports which grew by 12.8 per cent to KSh 69 billion in 2015.
