Kenya’s economy grew 5.8 percent as 800,000 new jobs created

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya's economy grew by 5.8 percent in 2016 compared to 5.7 reported last year, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

During the period under review the economy experienced conducive macroeconomic but the growth was hit by drought and a considerable slowdown in the uptake of credit in the fourth quarter.

The major drivers of growth were accommodation and food services, ICT, real estate and transport. Some of the key sectors that recorded slow growths include agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, construction, financial and insurance activities.

In 2016, the economy generated over 800,000 new jobs of which 85.6 thousand were in the modern sector while 747.3 thousand were in the informal sector.

Wage employment in the private sector increased by 3.3 percent from 1.76 million persons in 2015 to 1.82 million persons in 2016. Within the public sector, wage employment increased from 718.4 thousand persons in 2015 to 737.1 thousand persons in 2016.