A new survey has revealed that Kenya’s economy expanded at the fastest pace in eight years in 2018.
This is in comparison to 2017’s 4.9 per cent which according to Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich may grow at a similar rate in 2019.
Gross domestic product climbed 6.3 percent from a year earlier, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Director-General Zachary Mwangi told reporters Thursday in the capital, Nairobi. That’s the biggest annual increase since 2010, when East Africa’s largest economy grew by 8.4 percent.
“Our estimate was 6 percent and I’m glad it turned out to be higher than what we were projecting,” Rotich said at the same briefing, adding that the government expects expansion of “over 6 percent” in 2019.
Agricultural production, which accounts for about half of the economy, advanced 6.6 percent in 2018 from 1.8 percent a year earlier forming a huge basis for the economic boom.
While this should have presumably reflected on the common citizens, experts say the life for the common mwananchi has at no point been impacted by the “booming” economy.
Speaking at a local TV program, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore dismissed the projected economic growth, saying that doesn’t reflect true picture on the ground.
”Good GDP figures are just mere numbers of they are not felt by citizens. People are struggling to put food on the table. Talk to motorcycle operators and vegetable vendors….people are struggling,” Collymore said.
At the same time, unemployment still stands to be a constant frustration.
As of 2016, there were 1.44 million unemployed Kenyans who formed part of the 19.31 million working-age population. This in addition to 92,500 jobs lost in the last two years alone- KNBS.