NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 29 – The Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) has teamed up with Oxford Business Group (OBG), to produce the first country investment report.
The report dubbed ‘Kenya 2014’ will provide insights on the country’s investment potential and opportunities, investment climate and the expected return on investment.
Kenya Investment Authority Managing Director Moses Ikiara says the report will be used as the main attraction for investors in the country as they look for independent information on the economic aspects.
“The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between KenInvest and OBG sets out respective institutional responsibilities towards the preparation of the report and other related products such as regular analytical pieces on Kenya’s economic and investment climate dissemination events,” Ikiara said.
He says the report will see investment to Gross Domestic Income (GDP) ratio increase to 32 percent from the current 22 percent.
“Currently , we are about 10 percent points off target. It is our hope and that the MoU we are signing with OBG will generate accurate and up to date information about the investment prospects in Kenya to enable us close the investment to GDP gap as soon as possible, ” he said.
On her part, OBG Country Director Annie Michailidou says the report will be about 250 pages in length and is geared towards the international investors to provide them with the information they need to make actionable decisions in all major sectors.
The major sectors include financial services, energy, agriculture, education and tourism among others.
Michailidou says the OBG group involved will spend eight months on the ground in the country speaking with hundreds of stakeholders in the public private and non-governmental sectors to gain solid understanding of what the real issues are, where the opportunities and challenges for investors lay.
She says Kenya has strong macroeconomic fundamentals with the 2012 GDP growth rate of over 4 percent with strong indicators for more growth to come.
She says that Kenya also benefits from a strategic location with direct access to East African Community (EAC) markets making it an industrial and transportation hub in the region.
“Investors around the globe are looking to diversify their holdings and tap into various investment opportunities in East Africa with indicators such as the interest rate dropping from 18 percent to 8.5 percent in one year and reduced political turmoil show that Kenya is making an active effort to be the preferred regional investment destination,” she said.
