Kenya misses Vision 2030 export target

By Ronald Njoroge

Kenya failed to meet the exports target set by Vision 2030, growing at 18.8 per cent against a target of 20 per cent, according to the export agency. The country exports grew to $4.6 billion from $3.9 billion in 2009.

While announcing the results, the Chief Executive Officer of the Export Promotion Council (EPC), Ruth Mwaniki, called on exporters to diversify and increase value addition as a way of stabilising export earnings.

"The continued concentration on primary commodities in the agricultural sector with little value addition is affecting our export earnings. These products are affected by fluctuating prices and decreasing profits margins in the destination markets," Mwaniki said during the 2011 Exporters Forum on Risk Mitigation in Nairobi.

Kenya’s traditional export markets include the 19 member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the European Union (EU), which accounted for 57 per cent of the country’s exports in 2010.

"There is need for consolidation, expansion and diversion into other growing and emerging markets," Mwaniki said.

Njeru Ndwiga, the chairman of EPC, said the country needs to establish a national guarantee scheme that would provide lower interest rates on credit for exporters and investors.

"Currently the country is the largest exporter of black tea in the world and one of the leading exporters of cut flowers, and this shows that Kenya’s exporters can perform well if provided with assistance," Ndwiga said.

A member of the Commission for Revenue Allocation, Prof Wafula Masai, said the country’s increasing trade deficit calls for efforts to increase exports, which are currently dominated by primary commodities.

"Tea, horticulture and coffee accounted for 22 per cent, 18 per cent and 4 per cent of exports in 2010. This is paradoxical because 60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product emanates from the services sector," he said.

— Xinhua