NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 12 – Kenya’s economy slowed down significantly in the second quarter of the year as high inflationary pressures, low rainfall, and pre-election jitters hampered growth in key sectors.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) reported that Kenya’s economy grew by 5.2 per cent in Q2, this is compared to a growth of 11 per cent in a similar period last year.
During the period, inflation rose to 7.16 per cent from an average of 5.98 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, mainly due to increase in prices of food and energy.
This reduced consumers’ purchasing power as their budgets became more squeezed and reduced demand for goods and services.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing activities’ value added contracted for the third consecutive quarter mainly attributed to unfavourable weather conditions that characterized the last quarter of 2021 and the first half of 2022.
“The sector is estimated to have contracted by 2.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to a contraction of 0.5 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2021,” said KNBS.
As for the manufacturing sector’s real GDP, it expanded by 3.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 slower than the 11.3 per cent growth recorded in the same period of 2021.
Activities in the construction sector remained robust during the review period partly supported by the ongoing public infrastructure projects, though the performance was slower compared to the second quarter of 2021.
KNBS noted that the sector expanded by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 6.8 per cent growth in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
The electricity and Water Supply sector expanded by 5.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 7.2 per cent growth registered in the second quarter of 2021.
The growth in the sector was supported by increased generation of electricity from renewable sources such as geothermal and wind that offset the potential detriment associated with an increase in generation of electricity from thermal sources and a decline in generation from hydroelectric sources.
The activities of Information and Communication sector grew by 6.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to 17.1 per cent growth recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
The sector’s growth was mostly driven by mobile money and increased use of internet services.
