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KENYA
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Kenya Economy
Country Name: Republic of Kenya
Capital City: Nairobi
Population: 34,707,817
Population Growth: 2.57% (2006)
Currency: Kenyan shilling (KES)
Languages: English (official), Kiswahili (official)
Area: 582,650 sq km
Inflation Rate: 10.5% (2006 est.)
Unemployment Rate: 40% (2001)
Domain extension:
ECONOMIC DETAILS OF KENYA
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support. Since then, however, the KIBAKI government has been rocked by high-level graft scandals. The World Bank suspended aid for most of 2006, and the IMF has delayed loans pending further action by the government on corruption. The scandals have not seemed to affect growth, with GDP growing more than 5% in 2006.
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support. Since then, however, the KIBAKI government has been rocked by high-level graft scandals. The World Bank suspended aid for most of 2006, and the IMF has delayed loans pending further action by the government on corruption. The scandals have not seemed to affect growth, with GDP growing more than 5% in 2006.
GDP - purchasing power parity:
$41.36 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.7% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita:
$1,200 (2006 est.)
GDP - by sector (agriculture):
agriculture: 16.3%
GDP - by sector (industry):
industry: 18.8%
GDP - by sector (services):
services: 65% (2004 est.)
Export Partners:
Uganda 15.8%, UK 10.3%, US 8.2%, Netherlands 7.8%, Tanzania 7.7%, Pakistan 4.9% (2006)
Import Partners:
UAE 11.9%, India 8.9%, China 8.4%, Saudi Arabia 8.4%, US 7.1%, South Africa 6.4%, UK 5.4%, Japan 4.8% (2006)
Export Commodities:
tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement
Import Commodities:
machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics
Exports Volume:
$3.614 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Imports Volume:
$6.602 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Labour Force:
1.955 million (2006 est.)
Unemployment Rate:
40% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
50% (2000 est.)
Inflation Rate:
10.5% (2006 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):
19.2% of GDP (2006 est.)
Public Debt:
50.5% of GDP (2006 est.)
Agriculture Products:
tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs
Industries:
small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair, tourism
Industrial Production Growth Rate:
6.3% (2006 est.)
Electricity - production:
5.709 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - consumption:
5.459 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2004)
Electricity - imports:
150 million kWh (2004)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - consumption:
55,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day
Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
Natural gas - exports:
Natural gas - imports:
Current Account Balance:
-$1.119 billion (2006 est.)
Currency Code:
Kenyan shilling (KES)