According to the statistics office, agriculture’s performance as well as that of electricity and water supply were mostly hampered by a delay in the onset of the long rains/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 1 – Kenya’s economy expanded by 5.6 percent in the second quarter of 2019, unchanged from the first quarter of the year.
Kenya National Bureau of statistics (KNBS) says growth was curtailed mostly by a slowdown in activities of agriculture, manufacturing and transportation.
The expansion was however lower than the 6.4 percent growth registered during the same quarter in 2018.
According to the statistics office, agriculture’s performance as well as that of electricity and water supply were mostly hampered by a delay in the onset of the long rains.
Transport suffered due to the rise in prices in fuel.
Overall, GDP growth was supported by accommodation and food services, information and communication, wholesale and retail trade and construction industries which maintained high growths.
Information and communication sector posted the fastest growth of 11.6 per cent during the review quarter followed by accommodation and food services and construction which recorded growths of 10.6 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively.
Financial and insurance sector registered the most improved growth of 2.1 percentage points followed by construction sector whose growth improved by 1.8 percentage points.
The agriculture sector is estimated to have grown by 4.1 percent in the review quarter compared to 6.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, with KNBs attributing slowed growth to delayed long rains that somewhat curtailed agricultural production.
At the same time, the manufacturing sector posted a slowed growth of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2019 compared to a growth of 4.7 percent during the same quarter of 2018.
“Generally, key macroeconomic aggregates remained well anchored and therefore supportive of economic growth,” the statistics office said Monday.
Inflation edged upwards from an average of 3.98 per cent during second quarter of 2018 to 5.92 per cent during the quarter under review.
The rise in inflation was mainly on account of higher prices of food and beverages and rising cost of transportation during the quarter.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) maintained the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 9.0 per cent throughout the quarter in review.
