Browsing: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

• Investment and trade between the two countries was valued at more than $600 million last year.
• Kenya’s exports last year increased to $7.9 million from $6.3 million in 2021, the country’s Economic Survey 2023 indicates.
• Imports from Indonesia were valued at $187.7 million having dropped from $307.5 million the previous year.

Kenya is now keen to increase trade volumes mainly exports to the Asean market, with its renewed ties with Indonesia. President William Ruto said investment scope will also be broadened to bring about a balance of trade that is currently in favour of the Southeast Asian country.

“We will seize our energies and create the necessary environment for increased trade between our countries,” President Ruto said on Monday.

Investment and trade between the two countries was valued at more than $600 million last year. Indonesian economy registered a growth of  5.3 per cent in 2022 compared to of …

Regressive taxation, bureaucracy, and the expense of regulatory compliance are cited in the Plan as the main obstacles to rescuing Kenya from the “economic hole” it is now in.

Examining and streamlining all business licences is the first step in the economic reform process, intending to cap overall licencing expenses at 1.5% of turnover fees.

As correctly stated in the Plan, passing an administrative burden law resembling the Reduction of Paperwork Act in the United States of America will guarantee that no company spends more than four person-hours per month on tax and regulatory compliance.

The ease and cost of conducting business in Kenya have remained critical barriers to the country’s economic growth.…

Studies indicate that girls marrying or dropping out of school early are more likely to have poor health, bear more children over their lifetime and earn less in adulthood. Ending early child marriage according to a report (The cost of not investing in girls: Child marriage, early childbearing, low educational attainment for girls, and their impacts in Uganda), could generate up to US$2.7 billion in annual benefits (in purchasing power parity terms)which includes lower population, among others.

Moreover, it would contribute to increased earnings for women today had they been able to avoid early marriage, say, in 2015.

Instead, up to US$500 million is lost. The loss according to the report is due to risks associated with early marriage and childbirth such as under-five mortality and stunting for young children. Moreover, with a lower population, governments could invest resources to improve the quality of the services provided, instead of squeezing …

In the first six months of the year, Kenya’s food imports had increased to sh103.34 billion. The figures collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) showed that the food imports were sh12.35 billion more than the amount spent in the same period in 2020.

According to data from the national treasury, import expenditure increased by 29 per cent in the third quarter of 2021. China is the most significant contributor of Kenyan imports accounting for 31.6 per cent of the total bill from the Asian continent.

This is the fastest growth in the food import bill since a 60 per cent jump recorded in 2016 when the bill stood at sh82.83 billion. The exponential increase has been linked to the growing popularity of digital trading, allowing retailers and consumers to order and ship food and other commodities directly.…

Kenya is among some eight countries that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) wants to deepen trade ties with, even as it pushes to grow its status as the Middle East commercial hub.  

According to a report filed by Reuters on September 14th, the Gulf State said it wanted to strengthen trade and economic ties with countries including India, Britain, Turkey, South Korea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Israel and Kenya.  

The Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani Al Zeyoudi told the publication that UAE would pursue bilateral issues that include trade, foreign direct investment and sectors such as tourism.  

In terms of oil, UAE is Kenya’s major supplier of oil. For instance, in 2019, oil imports from the UAE stood at KSh116.9 billion ($1.2M) in 2018 compared to KSh108.6 billion ($1.0M) in the previous year.  That year, however, Saudi Arabia overtook UAE as the leading source of Kenya’s oil imports, …

The annual value of this trade was reported in 2019 to be on average Ksh 18 billion (US$180 million) which is less than 1 per cent of the total country’s imports. The total imports of textiles in Kenya were valued at around Ksh 131 billion (US$1.3 billion) depicting that the second-hand clothes represented 12.5 per cent of the country’s total imports.…