Kenya’s imports, exports gap up to Sh860.87bn

A worker at a flower company in Naivasha. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By CONSTANT MUNDA

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Summary

• The slower one per cent growth in the trade deficit in the period was helped by reduced demand for imports with orders for food and machinery declining.
• Overall, imports increased by 2.64 per cent to Sh1.33 trillion, slower than exports which rose 5.78 per cent to Sh470.57 billion, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data released last Friday indicates.

Kenya’s gap between imports and exports rose to Sh860.87 billion in the nine months ended September compared with Sh852.34 billion in the same period last year, the statistics office says.

The slower one per cent growth in the trade deficit in the period was helped by reduced demand for imports with orders for food and machinery declining.

Overall, imports increased by 2.64 per cent to Sh1.33 trillion, slower than exports which rose 5.78 per cent to Sh470.57 billion, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data released last Friday indicates.

Food imports in the nine-month period reduced to Sh141 billion from Sh184 billion on improved weather which supported agricultural output.

Imports of machinery also dropped to Sh211.11 billion compared with Sh245.9 billion a year earlier, while transport equipment imports were nearly flat at Sh148.96 billion compared with Sh145.7 billion.

Fuel imports, however, rose 27.6 per cent to Sh254.22 billion reflecting economic recovery amid rising global petroleum prices, while industrial supplies rose 11 per cent to Sh466.51 billion.

Kenya has made the export of value-added farm produce such as tea, coffee and fruits to China and India a top priority in the new exports strategy that she unveiled on July 31, seeking to more than triple exports in four years.

The ambitious Integrated National Exports Development and Promotion Strategy targets to grow external sales — which stood at Sh594.13 billion in 2017 — by 25 per cent every year to Sh1.8 trillion in 2022.