Kenyans twice as rich as Ugandans, report says

Kenyans are twice as rich as Ugandans, with a typical Kenyan earning an average $1,290 (Sh131,580) a year.

This means that the ordinary Kenyan earns about Sh10,960 a month, against a Ugandan’s earnings of Sh5,600.

According to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2016 report, Kenyans are essentially the richest people in the East African region.

The average Tanzanian earns an annual income of $920 billion (Sh93,840), Rwandans $700 (Sh71,400) and Burundians $270 (Sh27,540).

But what would be received as good news by the Government is likely to be frowned upon by the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who are still struggling with poor pay.

According to the latest Economic Survey 2016 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the average minimum pay for Kenyans living outside of Nairobi and its environs, Mombasa and Kisumu was far lower than Sh10,960.

Outside of these cities, general labourers took home about Sh5,844 last year, while miners, stone cutters, turnboys, waiters and cooks were paid Sh6,753. Night watchmen and machine attendants went home with a minimum of Sh6,970 and Sh9,365, respectively.

However, more than a third of Kenyans live on less than $1.90 (Sh194) a day, the World Bank found. Such individuals can only afford two meals of ugali and mboga, at a cost of Sh95 each at a simple kiosk, according KNBS.

Kenya and Uganda were also listed as having the best-functioning capital markets in the region. Kenya’s stock capitalisation stood at 40.5 of gross domestic product, or the country total output in a year.

Data for Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania on their stock market capitalisation was not available for review.

Unemployment rate

The report comes just after KNBS released a report showing the country’s economy grew 5.6 per cent in 2015, up from 5.3 per cent in 2014.

The Government has drawn up an extensive plan in the next financial year to improve the ease of doing business and attract more investments from foreigners, or foreign direct investment (FDI).

Uganda and Tanzania attracted more FDI net inflows than Kenya. While Kenya attracted $944 million (Sh96.3 billion) in net capital inflows, Tanzania and Uganda received $2,045 million (Sh208.6 billion) and $1,147 million (Sh117 billion), respectively.

The World Bank puts Kenya’s unemployment at 9 per cent. However, it added, youth unemployment, or a share of the labour force aged 15 to 24 without work but available for and seeking a job, stood at 17.4 per cent.