About 51 per cent of Kenyans are living hand to mouth, a report has shown. This is a rise from 34.3 per cent in 2016.
According to the 2019 Finacess Household Survey released on Wednesday by CBK and FSD, the cost of living has been on an upward trend, triggering a hand to mouth means of survival.
This, despite access to formal financial services and products expanding from 41.3 per cent in 2006 to 82.9 per cent in 2019.
Acting director of research at CBK Raphael Otieno attributed the worsening financial health of households to poor microeconomics, especially a drop in agriculture productivity due to bad climate.
”Kenyans continue to take a beating from a poor climatic condition that continues to take toll on food production. This stretched inflation during the period under review, forcing households to spend more on basic needs,” Otieno said.
The survey sampled 8,669 households across the country, 40 per cent urban and 60 per cent from the rural setting.