KNBS to release growth figures, slowdown expected

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) will Wednesday release economic growth figures for 2017.

Several estimates, including one by the National Treasury, show that economic growth last year slowed down compared to the 5.8 per cent increase in 2016.

Institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) expect expansion of the gross domestic product (GDP), or the monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced, to decelerate following a debilitating drought that affected agricultural output.

Other factors that might have affected economic growth in 2017, economists say, are a protracted electioneering period and reduced credit from banks that affected investments.

GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2017 performed poorly compared to the corresponding period in 2016, according to the national statistician.   

Expanded

In the first quarter, Kenya’s economy expanded by 4.7 per cent compared to 5.3 per cent in the same period in 2016.

In the second quarter, the economy grew by five per cent, a slowdown compared to 6.3 per cent in the similar period 2017.

Economic growth decelerated sharply in the third quarter, expanding at 4.4 per cent compared to 5.6 per cent in a similar period of 2016.

Treasury expects the economy in 2017 to have grown by 5.1 per cent, a drop from an earlier projection of 5.9 per cent. It was the third time that Treasury had revised its forecast downwards.

World Bank projects growth at 4.9 per cent, a revision from an earlier outlook of 5.5 per cent, while the IMF in its October 2017 projection predicted the country’s economy to expand by five per cent, down from a forecast of 5.3 per cent in April.

“GDP growth is estimated to drop to 4.9 per cent in 2017, a 0.6 percentage point dip from the earlier forecast of 5.5 per cent growth,” said the World Bank.